When he was just 5 years old, Nicholas Lowinger visited a homeless shelter with his mom. While there, he wanted to show off his new light up shoes. However, with his moms guidance, he realized this would not be a good idea. That is because when he looked around, many of the kids did not have shoes or had shoes that were falling apart.

Nicholas then learned that some of the kids shared their shoes with a member of their family or missed school because another family member was wearing the shoes that day. He noticed that other children had sores on their feet from wearing shoes that were not the right size. Nicholas started by donating his used shoes and clothing to the homeless.

A few years later, when it came time to perform a service project for his Bar Mitzvah, Nicholas knew exactly what he wanted to do. That is when his charity, Gotta Have Sole Foundation, was born. His charity focuses on providing new shoes to homeless kids to give them something that not only fits them, but is truly theirs. Since then, his efforts have provided new shoes to over 7,000 children in homeless shelters in 12 states across the U.S.!
Nicholas was recently chosen as a CNN Hero.