Family-run boot drive afoot in South Osborne

South Osborne

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This article was published 08/11/2023 (1042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Riverview family has begun collecting boots to warm Winnipeg feet for the fifth winter in a row.

Started in 2019 by Robyn Brown, Warm Boots, Warm Hearts connects community members in need with warm, sturdy footwear at no cost. With the help of her husband and two children, Brown collects donations of new and gently used footwear of all sizes – as well as new socks and foot warmers – and distributes them through schools and community organizations.

Brown says the program began somewhat inadvertently when she was trying to source winter boots for a family she was working with at the time in her role at a Winnipeg school division. She put out a call to friends, family, and neighbours through Facebook and received an overwhelming response.

“My husband came home from work that day and I laughed and was like, ‘I think I accidentally started a charity,’ because I had started arranging all these boot pick-ups,” Brown recounted. They collected and gave out 100 pairs of boots that year – well beyond what was needed to help the families connected to the school she worked at.

The following year, when Brown and her husband were expecting their second child, they decided to do the boot drive again upon seeing the need, owing to the economic impact of COVID-19.

“There were a lot of people that were financially strapped and needing more support that way and a pair of boots can be very expensive,” Brown said. It has since became an annual family effort.

“After that, we joked that if we can do it in a pandemic when I’m like eight months pregnant, we can do it every year,” Brown said, noting that they have collected and given out 650 pairs of boots to date.

Brown says a large part of the effort involves giving old boots new life by cleaning them and giving them new laces, which her 12-year-old son helps with. In fact, every family member has a job in Warm Boots, Warm Hearts..

“We want our kids to learn that everyone can make a difference,” Brown said.

The program wraps up around mid-December so the boots can go out before the school winter break, Brown said. There are eight donation drop-off locations across the city, including three in South Osborne: Riverview Community Centre, Lord Roberts Community Centre, and Park Line Coffee.