A Jewish teenager, who received $25,000 for his bar mitzvah, bought several pairs of shoes with his birthday money. But the 800 Nike pairs he purchased weren't for his own use.
Instead, Drew Frank donated these shoes to less fortunate children in low-income families. The 13-year-old tied up with the Braden Aboud Foundation for his special bar mitzvah celebration.
The Jewish teen asked relatives and friends to give him cash for his birthday, in lieu of gifts. He initially had planned on buying shoes and socks for the kids at the Beall Elementary School in El Paso, Texas. But he also had extra money to donate shoes to orphans staying at the YWCA center for women and children, Kveller reports.
Drew Frank said that he's been always passionate about sneakers and wanted this to be his bar mitzvah project. Jewish teens are apparently required to do community service in line with this religious tradition. "So I decided to raise money to buy sneakers for kids who are less fortunate than me," the 13-year-old said, per El Paso Inc.
The Jewish teen celebrated his birthday in May and had over 250 guests who handed out checks. Then, with the help of the foundation that has been spearheading shoe donations to low-income families, they sought Nike for the bulk orders. The shoes have been recently distributed to the school kids as shared in the Braden Aboud Foundation social media account.
A video posted by @bstrongrunwalk on Nov 7, 2016 at 6:35pm PST
Drew's parents, Dana and Adam Frank, supported his plan and were more than pleased by their son's idea. "We always try to instill the importance of giving back to the community through volunteering and generosity," Dana told the press.
Doing philanthropic work has always been a family engagement as the Jewish teen's grandparents are well-known philanthropists Stanlee and Gerald Rubin. The Frank kids have also volunteered for Make-A-Wish Foundation on several instances.
