As child poverty soars in the UK, with over 13,000 children living in poverty in Northamptonshire – Sally Keeble, Labour’s candidate for Northampton North, is setting up a children’s shoe collection point in  her campaign centre which is in a former Northampton boot and shoe factory.

The shoes collected will be donated to a charity set up five years ago by a mum who was unable to find a donation point for her son’s shoes once he had out grown them. The charity, called Sal’s Shoes sent  300,000 pairs of donated shoes to 43 countries worldwide.

However, more and more of the donated shoes are being given to children in the UK as schools and teachers have contacted the charity for help.

Sally Keeble said: “I read about Sal’s Shoes in a Sky News report. As my campaign centre is in the old Barratt boot and shoe factory, it would be good set up a collection point for the charity. My campaign team has been in touch with the charity about it.

Child poverty has been on the rise in Northampton with more families forced into using foodbanks and experiencing holiday hunger. Setting up this donation point is just a small contribution to easing the pressures on them.

If it’s a choice between buying their children new school shoes or buying food at least charities like Sal’s shoes can help alleviate some of that pressure.”

The shoe collection will be located in Sally Keeble’s campaign office in Barratt House, Kingsthorpe Road NN2 6EZ and will be open from 1pm-4pm – Monday to Friday. Contributions of new or good condition used pairs of children’s shoes will be welcome.