Goodie Two Shoes Foundation

The Goodie Two Shoes Foundation provides disadvantaged children and children in crisis with new shoes and socks, as well as other items deemed essential for good health and positive development.

Each school year, Goodie Two Shoes identifies 25 to 27 schools in the Clark County School District (nation’s 5th largest) with significant populations of children in need of our resources. (Qualifying children must be on the Free- or Reduced-Lunch Program. Individual schools are only eligible for services once every 13 months). We then work with each selected campus to coordinate a one-day, on-site visit by our 48’ mobile shoe-store-on-wheels to outfit approximately 400 to 450 elementary school / 450 to 550 middle school of their most critical-needs students with new shoes and socks.

No other organization in the country distributes shoes and socks to at-risk youth in the same manner as GTSF. We are the model. As a grassroots organization born in Southern Nevada, we've honed our initiatives over the past eighteen years. Our passion and belief in empowering children through choice has fueled our initiatives and created a very unique model that provides a basic necessity while creating positive and constructive synergy between students, teachers, administrators, community volunteers, and funders.

According to the Clark County School District, the lack of adequate attire, most notably shoes and socks, significantly contributes to educational deficiency within the district. It is not uncommon for ill-fitting shoes to reduce classroom focus and participation. In addition, the outright lack of footwear is a contributing factor to not only missed physical education classes but also lower overall school attendance.  In some circumstances, siblings actually share a single pair of shoes which results in an alternating attendance pattern. Sound ridiculous? It’s not and it happens right here in Las Vegas every single day. Our programming strives to outfit over 10,000 disadvantaged children with properly fitting shoes each school year!

In 2003, Nikki and Tony Berti, co-founded the Goodie Two Shoes Giveaway, a one-day event to provide disadvantaged children with new shoes. They patterned their Giveaway after a similar but much simpler event they volunteered for annually during Tony's playing days with the NFL's San Diego Chargers (1995-1998). Upon Tony's retirement from the NFL in 2001, they brought the concept home to Las Vegas. Their Goodie Two Shoes Giveaway garnered tremendous community support and experienced significant growth during the event’s first five years and, in 2007, the Goodie Two Shoes Giveaway officially grew into the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation, a Las Vegas-based 501c3 charitable organization. In 2008, GTSF added additional outreach events to its programming in an effort to serve 4,000 children annually. And, in 2010, GTSF launched its mobile shoe unit, a 48’ custom shoe-store-on-wheels, which takes GTSF’s year-round programming directly to children in need at their school or referring agency. With this new unit, GTSF is able to serve 10,000 at-risk Southern Nevada children annually.

What makes GTSF different? Our programming is based on the premise that we don’t just provide a child with a new pair of shoes. We measure their feet on-site to ensure proper fit. We pair them one-on-one with a community volunteer whom takes a special interest and walks them through the process. We make them the center of attention, and we empower them with choice; by giving them the opportunity to select any pair of properly-fitting, high-quality sneakers they like from our traveling inventory.

In the short-term, GTSF’s programming provides simple necessities in a fun and exciting atmosphere. But long after the recipients outgrow their Goodie Two Shoes of choice, we hope the children remember their positive interaction with a caring community volunteer and the feelings of empowerment that came with making an unrestrained, positive choice and draw on that experience when making decisions in the future.

GTSF serves children Kindergarten through 12th grade, referred by schools, social service agencies and other nonprofit organizations dedicated to assisting children in need.

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