Squeaking from a co-worker’s shoes led a Rio Rancho woman to write a children’s story, and a desire to do something good for the community led her to turn the book into a fundraiser for children who need shoes.
Debbie Coston wrote the book “Stanley and the Squeaky Shoes” and founded The Squeaky Shoe Project to use proceeds from the book to buy new shoes for children in need. She delivered her first donation of 14 pairs of shoes to Colinas del Norte Elementary last month.
School counselor Janice Spratte said she had a student in mind to get shoes right away, since school staff members had noticed his toes showing through holes in his shoes.
“He gets to pick first,” she said, expecting to see the student the next day.
Spratte planned to put out the other 13 pairs for parents to pick up the next time the school’s free food pantry was open. She said people often don’t think about students needing shoes, so she was thrilled to get the donation.
Coston said the project started when she worked at a call center. Her friend and co-worker Stanley Robinson had shoes that always squeaked as he walked.
It was an ongoing joke, and Coston wrote Robinson a story about his squeaky shoes as a Christmas present. But that wasn’t enough.
“It really just kept bothering me: We can do something with this,” she said.
She decided to publish the story and use the proceeds from sales to buy kids’ shoes.
Coston’s friend Gayle Lewis Bennett created the pictures for Coston’s story about a boy who gets new, squeaky shoes. Robinson’s son Fitzgerald was the model for the title character.
Bennett left her illustrations black and white so children could color them.
Coston had the book printed through the Center for Hands On Learning in Rio Rancho and formed a nonprofit she calls The Squeaky Shoe Project under the umbrella of Rio Rancho Creative Crossroads, run by Neal Shotwell.
A pastor at Coston’s church, First Baptist Church of Rio Rancho, ordered 40 books to get her started. She and her grandson, Colinas del Norte fifth-grader Justin Coston, sold the books at church, a craft show and on Amazon.
Sales began in September, and 200 copies sold by the end of November. Plus, some people made donations.
Coston sought out a few business sponsors, and then she and Justin went shopping.
“It felt kind of weird because we were buying so much and it was for people we didn’t even know,” Justin said. “But I knew it was for kids who didn’t have what I have, so it was good.”
Coston hopes to give shoes to every Colinas del Norte student in need and expand to other elementary and middle schools in Rio Rancho and the surrounding area.
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