Justin Liebman's love for sneakers runs deep. Visions of sneakers dance in his head.
The 17-year-old has been an avid collector of the rubber-soled kicks for five years. The self-proclaimed "sneakerhead'' has hundreds of pairs in his collection. He buys, sells and trades.
But the Cherry Hill East junior is equally as passionate about helping people, so by combining the two loves he came up with "Karing 4 Kicks,'' a nonprofit he founded about four months ago to provide shoes to those who are less fortunate.
"What really drove me to start the whole charity was the love that I had for the sneakers,'' Liebman told the Courier-Post . "I was having so much success in the whole sneaker business aspect. I read online articles about children in Haiti that when they played soccer or played basketball they would get really sick because they're not wearing any protection on their feet. That really struck a chord with me. Here I am with these sneakers.
"I have a big personality. Everyone in school knows me, who I am, so I knew I had a voice. It's just something I'm passionate about and I really wanted to help and I'm happy it's gotten this far.''
The shoes collected will be delivered to Soles4Souls, a nonprofit that collects new and used shoes and redistributes them to people in need through direct donations and through micro-enterprise partners. That 10-year-old organization has distributed more than 26 million pairs of shoes in 127 countries.
"Because of the recent events of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti my team decided it would be good if it could all go to Haiti. We give it to them and they make sure it gets there. It's actually going to where the help is needed the most.''
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Liebman's mother Lisa said she and his father Jesse are proud of their son, who hopes to continue the organization when he goes off to college, with his younger sister Lauren spearheading things locally.
Lisa Liebman said her son is an honor roll student who is involved with about 10 clubs at school, many of them dealing with volunteer efforts such as Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House.
"He is probably the kindest soul there ever was,'' she said. "If he had one piece of bread and it was his lunch and there was another child who was starving he would give that child his sandwich. He's a very kind, good soul, sensitive, trying to make a difference in other people's lives. . His teachers, the staff at the camp, everybody tells me how special he is. I'm a very lucky mother. He's a good boy.''
Liebman started collecting sneakers in the seventh grade and said there were times when a little bullying occurred from kids who would tease that he didn't have a certain sneaker yet.
"It really drove me to have the work ethic I have now,'' said Liebman, who regularly attends sneaker shows in Philadelphia.
He said if he could look back at his seventh grade self, he would say, "You would never believe the type of collection you've invested so hard in but on top of that you've made such an investment in your local community and the world.''
Liebman, who is known at school as the "kid with sneakers,'' says starting the nonprofit and donating kicks to those who are less fortunate is probably his biggest accomplishment so far.
"I say to everyone, I want to be known as the kid with sneakers, who actually did something about it,'' he said. "I can already imagine the type of things that will be happening in Haiti because of the contribution we're really making here. I think it's really something special. I'm so happy that I was really a big part of it.
"It only takes one voice out of 7 billion to make a contribution.''
The Karing 4 Kicks shoe drive for Haiti will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Dec. 17 at Cherry Hill East High School. New and used shoes can be donated at that time. Sneakers are preferred.
