NATIONAL children’s charity Supershoes has delivered its 5000th pair of Supershoes to a very special 8-year-old: Super Henry.

Henry’s joy at seeing his favourite characters from Frozen and Scooby-Doo, painted on his Supershoes by Super Artist Krystle, was captured by local photographers Niki and Mark.

The CEO of Supershoes, Sarah White, delivered the very special pair personally.

Supershoes is a volunteer-led charity, comprising 300+ Super Artists, who create these mini-masterpieces in their own “spare” time, plus a team of Super Volunteers who tackle the huge task of processing over 50 referrals a week, with phone calls, dispatching shoes to artists and youngsters and all the demands of running a busy charity.

CEO Sarah told Charity Today:

“Back in 2013, my husband, Ken and I set ourselves a target: to deliver 52 pairs of Supershoes a year, one pair each week, to children undergoing treatment for cancer. We wanted to bring a smile to the face of poorly children in the shape of a unique gift: a pair of hand-painted trainers, featuring all the things that child loves: animals, cars, colours, tv characters and so on. We could never have imagined that 8 years on, we’d be delivering our 5000th pair. It’s just awesome.”

But Sarah is in no doubt about what those 5000 pairs mean. “This number also stands for the other 4,999 children and young people going through some gruelling, tough times in their treatment for cancer, including the angels who, heartbreakingly, didn’t make it. It costs between £70 and £100 to create a pair of Supershoes. Without the continuing support of our generous sponsors, we would never have been able to get this far, but we get 25+ requests each week, so our work is by no means over. We’ll carry on bringing smiles as long as there are youngsters still fighting cancer.”

To find out more about Supershoes please visit www.supershoes.org.uk