‘Everything adds up’: Recent high school grads give away 120 pairs of running shoes

Four Huron County university grads have started a charity to help fund athletics for kids. CTV’s Scott Miller with the story.

Braden Radford and Owen Taylor have spent the month of May giving away running shoes to high school students in Huron County.

“It’s put a lot of smiles on kids’ faces, and it’s been really, really rewarding,” said Radford.

It wasn’t that long ago that Radford and Taylor were in high school themselves, so they know the value of a free pair of shoes, which is really just the first of many ideas they have to try and help families to keep their kids in sports in Huron and Perth County.

“When you add it up over the time, it’s a lot of gas, money, wear and tear, and just everything kind of adds up. So, we’re trying to help fund and get those kids back into sports by whatever means we need. So, everything from registration, equipment, if they need help paying for certain things, they can come to us, and get that little boost,” said Taylor.

Radford, Taylor, and their high school buddies Wolfgang Shulz and Chase Stephenson, started All-Access Athletics last year. The goal is simple, to try and keep sports as affordable as possible for kids in Huron and Perth Counties.

“A lot of local minor sports organizations are kind of slowly disappearing. You’re seeing a lot of amalgamation, families from Mitchell having to drive 30-45 minutes. Families from Clinton have to drive 30-45 minutes just to practice on a regular basis. Or they’re driving two hours for games. And that’s just unreasonable for a lot of families. So, if we can provide those kids the opportunity to continue doing those things as the landscape of minor sports changes, then that’s what we want to do,” said Radford.

Giving away 120 shoes donated by New Balance and the Run Parlour, is their first big project, but All-Access has a 5k run planned this June, a ball hockey tournament, and used equipment drive in the works.

It’s all to help give kids who love sports, but maybe can’t afford it, to keep doing what they love.

“All four of us did sports growing up and saw the impact of how good it was for us. And we kind of see how with the landscape of minor sports is changing, how they’re kind of a few kids maybe not taking that leap into sports at the start, or later on in years, just because of financial stress,” said Taylor.

“We just want to be able to support as many kids as we can to be active, and in sports. That’s our main focus,” said Radford.

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