Shoes for Kids

On a cold, icy winter night in December 1948, as Brother Robert "Bob" Williams, owner of the swank Savoy Club in Birmingham, Alabama's fourth avenue district, sat his trash out, he discovered several boys playing behind his establishment. He noticed that the boys had no shoes on. He asked them, "Where are your shoes?". They answered him by saying they had no shoes. He fed them that night and asked them to return to his establishment on the following morning, and he would purchase them some shoes. They returned the following morning, and he carried them to a store and purchased shoes for the boys. Being the generous Sigma man that he was, he presented this idea at the next chapter meeting of Phi Beta Sigma. The chapter (Tau Sigma), which met in the "Blue Room" of the Savoy Club, adopted the idea to provide shoes for indigent boys during the Christmas season, and so began the history and story of Shoes for Kids. At the beginning, they limited these free shoes to just boys, but with insight and open hearts, the fraternity decided that children, regardless of their gender, should be provided with shoes. Although the name of this charitable venture remained Shoes for Boys until the early eighties, the chapter changed the name to Shoes for Kids to reflect the true nature of the charity. The late Brother Rev. Earnest Blevins Wilson and his wife, Soror Bernice G. Wilson, spearheaded this charitable venture for the chapter until his death in 2004.  Because of Brother Rev. Wilson's tireless efforts and service to this project, the chapter unanimously renamed this charitable venture in his and the founding Brothers' name.  Today, this project carries the official name of Robert Wilson and Rev. Earnest B. Wilson Shoes for Kids.

 Each year on the third Saturday in December you will see hundreds of needy children receive shoes through the generosity of the Brothers of Tau Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.  To date, we estimate that tens of thousands of Birmingham's needy children have been the beneficiaries of this charitable venture.