ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP – As a student-teacher in Cleveland, Micah Hyde’s sister saw that her battle to educate children advanced beyond her classroom.
Hyde and several classmates, while students at the University of Iowa, also sensed a need within the same demographic of students his sibling was educating and formulated a business plan that allowed them to collect used sports equipment to distribute to Boys and Girls Clubs in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, community as part of a class project.
The Imagine for Youth Foundation was born with that business plan and expanded into Kicks for Kids as a way to support the kinds of students his sibling was educating.
“(Micah’s sister) was teaching a class, and she had a really good struggle with the fact that some of the kids down there, they just weren’t prepared,” Imagine for Youth Foundation volunteer Mike Mock said. “In other words, some of the kids were showing up, their clothes were just in tatters. Some of them didn’t have shoes. They were showing up (in winter) in flip flops and stuff like that, because they didn’t have shoes. Part of this organization that Micah put together was the Kicks for Kids program.”
Mock and fellow volunteer brought the Imagine for Youth Foundation and Kicks for Kids to Ridgeview Elementary for a special event on Friday, Feb. 13.
It was one of several stops in Ashtabula County that included Jefferson Elementary, Rock Creek Elementary (at Spire), Austinburg Elementary (at Spire) and Platt Spencer Elementary.
Mock and fellow volunteer Kevin Hunt delivered a brand-new pair of Nike tennis shoes to every third-grader at Ridgeview along with a number of other gifts.
“It’s been such a great time for myself, Kevin and my wife, Julie,” Mock said. “We have given away 400 pairs of shoes in the last five years to the third-grade classes at several schools.”
Prior to the students receiving their shoes, the students divided up by class and gender and participated in a number of relay races. Following the races and as they were handed their shoes, the students also received Kicks for Kids T-shirts, a beanie with the logo of Buffalo Bill’s star Damar Hamlin and a book bag.
Hyde graduated from Fostoria High School and played football at the University of Iowa before getting drafted by the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. He also played for the Buffalo Bills, ultimately spending 11 seasons in the NFL.
“They’ve been doing it now seven or eight years,” Mock said. “They started out in Iowa, where he went to college, it expanded to northwest Ohio and now we’re here in Northeast Ohio.”
The event at Ridgeview was slightly different from what Mock usually does at other venues.
“I don’t know how to describe it, because we do things a little different up here. (Micah) comes from sports, and so we actually do sporting events, the running and everything like that.”
“For me, it’s just great because I get to see these kids actually active,” Mock continued. “I’ve done youth baseball, I’ve done youth football, so I get to see this a little different. Some kids won’t ever play a sport. I get to see them at least try.”
Mock thoroughly enjoys volunteering for Imagine for Youth and Kicks for Kids.
“It’s just fun to watch them (open up the wrapped boxes of shoes),” Mock said. “For me, it’s everything.”
“(Seeing their faces as they open the shoes) is very heartwarming,” Mock continued. “We all, me, Kevin and my wife, Julie, every one of us, as we walk away, kids are coming up and thanking us and hugging us.”
The kids are asked to submit their shoes sizes ahead of the event and receive not just any brand of shoe, but Nikes.
“A couple of kids came up today and said they’ve never owned a pair of Nike shoes,” Mock said. “They’ve never, ever had a pair of Nike shoes and without this, I don’t know that they would. For me, for Micah and his wife, Amanda, it’s everything for us. I went to a very small school. Micah went to Fostoria High School. It’s not millionaires. We all, we went through our struggles and went from there.”
A partnership during his career led Hyde to seek out Nike to assist with Kicks for Kids.
“When he was playing professional ball, (Micah) partnered with Nike,” Mock said. “The first or second, year, we had a couple (other brands) that were mixed in, but he just went right back to Nike. They’re working with a company, out of Georgia that donates all these shoes, all Nike shoes.”
“It’s incredible,” Mock continued. “Everything that goes into what we’re doing leading up to this point, it’s incredible. It’s incredible how many people actually come together, especially with what you see out in the world today.”
Everything the Ridgeview students received was donated.
“It’s all provided through donations that we receive, corporate donations throughout the country and with Micah,” Mock said. “The partners that they’ve made for the shoes, like I said, the hats came from Damar Hanlon, which is cool. It’s all through the Imagine for Youth program.”
Mock couldn’t help but express how much he enjoyed his day at Ridgeview.
“The excitement of the kids from the minute that they walked in this gym to the time that they were pulling the wrapping off those shoes was incredible,” Mock said. “None of us were walking through here without having a big smile on our face and if you weren’t, you weren’t paying attention. I think that’s the greatest thing.”
“These teachers here were fantastic,” Mock continued. “They got involved. They kept everything running for us.”
