Arkansas woman buys all shoes in closing Payless store to help community

ALMA, Ark. (KNWA) — As kids head back to school, an Arkansas community has their backs.

River Valley Kickstart is a new initiative to help those in need, and it began with a fourth-grader’s genuine kindness and concern for a fellow classmate.

Harper Jernigan of Alma asked her mother, Carrie Jernigan, to buy her classmate Avenger shoes while shopping at a Payless that was going out of business. She said she noticed her friend’s shoes were too small, but she didn’t know what shoe size he wears.

“I’m not going to be able to figure out his size because of the time of the year… so I looked at the clerk jokingly and just asked, ‘how much for the rest of the shoes in here?’ Just joking,” Carrie said.

Jernigan’s joke quickly became a reality for this unstoppable duo, and $21,000 and a huge trailer full of 95 large boxes of 1,500 pairs of shoes ranging from newborn to men’s size 13, Jernigan is ready to help people in need.

Others in the community are volunteering to help those in need. They’re asking for donations for other needed supplies too so the kids are ready for school.

Donations may be made here. One hundred percent of the funds go toward helping families in need in the River Valley.

Even more, affiliates of churches, and business owners and employees are stepping in and also helping by providing haircuts, eye exams and school supplies — to name a few.

Jernigan said members of Kibler Baptist Church have also stepped in, and have offered to donate money and time to the cause.

“That’s what it’s all about. In the grand scheme of things in this country, this is one tiny blip, but if it continues to grow –and it just it makes you do one little thing for that student fixing to go back to school — it matters to that one kid,” Jernigan added.

And from the kindness of one person’s heart to the kind of many hearts, River Valley Kickstart was created in a community that has each other’s backs.