More than 900 students at Amelia Earhart Elementary-Middle School in southwest Detroit received a new pair of shoes Wednesday, Oct. 7. WDIV/ClickOnDetroit reported that Lace Up Detroit and local Chevrolet dealers organized the distribution, which organizers called the largest shoe giveaway in the nonprofit’s history. It happened on Count Day, a date tied to school attendance, but the report does not show that the giveaway changed attendance.
WDIV said each student recipient walked away with a brand-new pair. Principal Anisa Proud described attendance and engagement as connected for her students and pointed to the school-year slogan, “Every minute matters.” Her comments gave the day a school-centered context, while the reported result stayed specific: more than 900 students received shoes. The story did not report a later attendance total or say that the distribution was designed as an attendance incentive.
For one seventh grader, finding a pair came with a very specific test. Marvin told WDIV he wanted shoes he could moonwalk in, “something so it can slide more.” The reporter said he found what he was looking for. WDIV described Marvin as Earhart’s unofficial hype man, known for daily motivation messages on morning announcements. It was a small detail inside a large distribution, but it brought the event down to a student’s point of view: the shoes were not just a campaign total, but something one young person hoped to wear and enjoy.
Donor Michael Bates told WDIV that he and other local Chevrolet dealers raised 1,700 new pairs for students. That shoe total is separate from the more than 900 students reported receiving shoes at Earhart. The reports do not detail how the pairs were allocated beyond the school event, so the two numbers describe different parts of the effort.
The school giveaway was the local result of a wider collection drive. Hamilton Chevrolet’s Step Up for Kids page says Chevy Detroit dealers partnered with Lace Up Detroit to collect new shoes and socks through Sept. 30, then deliver donations to local children on Oct. 7. The page describes the campaign as serving roughly 1,000 children that day; WDIV’s report specifically documents more than 900 students at Earhart. Hamilton’s page says donated shoes had to be new and identifies sneakers as the top choice.
Hamilton’s donation list includes adult sizes as well as children’s sizes. Lace Up Detroit describes its mission as serving children and women from preschool through career; WDIV reported that the Earhart giveaway was for students. The distinction matters because a campaign wishlist can cover a broader effort than one school-day distribution. The available reporting does not give a complete breakdown of which sizes went to which recipients at Earhart.
Lace Up Detroit says five women formed the charity in 2015. The organization is run by an all-volunteer board, buys footwear wholesale and distributes shoes and boots through charity partners across metro Detroit. On its website, Lace Up reports that partner groups received 3,676 pairs of shoes and boots in 2025. That yearlong total gives context for the organization’s broader work without turning it into a count of the Oct. 7 giveaway.
Earhart’s official profile says the elementary-middle school serves more than 1,000 students, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. WDIV’s report of more than 900 recipients gives a sense of the day’s scale, while the school’s profile provides its enrollment context. The sources do not say that every enrolled student received a pair or explain the distribution criteria.
Count Day gave the distribution a school-calendar backdrop, but the reporting does not include a post-event attendance result. WDIV also reported that Oct. 7 was Pajama Day at Earhart, adding another school-day tradition to the date. The story can hold both facts without turning the timing into an unsupported claim about why attendance changed.
The documented result is concrete: more than 900 students at one Detroit school received new footwear through a drive connected to a volunteer-run nonprofit and local dealers. Marvin’s moonwalk-ready wish shows the gift in personal terms, while Lace Up Detroit’s partner network and the collection drive explain how a wide community effort reached one school. The story does not need an unverified attendance claim; the shoes, the scale and one student’s playful goal carry it.
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