Edinburgh’s George Heriots pupils raise more than £2000 for social enterprise

Pupils at George Heriot School raised more than £2,000 for a social enterprise with an innovative challenge where they kept their shoes on for 48 hours straight without removing them as they took part in their Poverty Awareness Week.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Let us know what you think and join the conversation at the bottom of this article.

The mission behind the Invisible Cities’ ‘In Our Shoes’ Challenge is to help school children to understand more about and discuss some of the issues faced by rough sleepers while on the streets such as podiatry issues, and lack of access to adequate shoes.

Zakia Moulaoui Guery, CEO and founder of Invisible Cities said: “We are delighted to say, that through completing this challenge, George Heriots School raises an amazing £2,616 which we split with our fellow social enterprise and friends at the Grassmarket Community Project.”

As part of their Poverty Week focus, students at Edinburgh-based George Heriot school took on Invisible Cities’ ‘In Our Shoes Challenge’ and kept their shoes on for 48 hours (without removing them at all!) to highlight the issues faced by rough sleepers while on the streets.As part of their Poverty Week focus, students at Edinburgh-based George Heriot school took on Invisible Cities’ ‘In Our Shoes Challenge’ and kept their shoes on for 48 hours (without removing them at all!) to highlight the issues faced by rough sleepers while on the streets.
As part of their Poverty Week focus, students at Edinburgh-based George Heriot school took on Invisible Cities’ ‘In Our Shoes Challenge’ and kept their shoes on for 48 hours (without removing them at all!) to highlight the issues faced by rough sleepers while on the streets.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Based right next to the school, Grassmarket Community Project have been a long-standing partner of Invisible Cities and have supported with recruiting new guides and working on collaborative projects together.

Katherine Duncan, principal teacher of curricular enhancement added: “The pupils of George Heriot’s Junior School took part in Poverty Awareness Week at the end of March as part of our annual Financial Education focus.

“It created an opportunity for them to learn more about the causes of poverty - both locally and globally - and how poverty impacts on the rights of everyone affected.

“Putting themselves ‘in the shoes’ of rough sleepers not only allowed our pupils to empathise with rough sleepers, but also helped them to make a difference by raising £2,616 for Invisible Cities and the Grassmarket Community Project.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Invisible Cities is a social enterprise that trains people who have previously experienced  homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own city in Edinburgh, Manchester,  Glasgow and York.

Speaking about the challenge itself, Zakia added: “It was designed to give a different perspective on homelessness and focus on a very practical issue that people can face. We are so thankful to the school, teachers and pupils alike for taking part and supporting us with such a generous donation.”

Jonny Kinross, CEO for Grassmarket Community Project said: “We are delighted to be one of the beneficiaries of George Heriots School’s incredible fundraising effort as part of their poverty awareness week. With this donation we will be able to provide practical support, training, access to free IT classes, free IT equipment, free food 5 days a week and one to one support including counselling and therapies to many of the city’s homeless and vulnerable.

“As the lockdown relaxes and we are able to provide one-to-one face to face support this donation will enable us to re-connect to people who are exceptionally vulnerable and isolated – to help them sustain their tenancies, ensure they receive the benefits and support to which they are entitled as well as get the emotional and mental health support they need. What an exceptional fundraising initiative and our huge thanks go out to the pupils and their families who got behind and will help us to ensure that no one is left behind in the city’s recovery.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.