Community and fashion come together for one special night this week.
Hosts Rodney and Erika McLeod
Save the date: Change Our Future’s 2nd Annual Sneaker Ball Art & Sole Gala takes place July 7. Hosted by Rodney and Erika McLeod, the evening fundraiser will take place at Vie by Cescaphe with live entertainment, silent auctions, luxury sneaker vendors and more. “Sneaker Ball came into fruition from us thinking about a creative way to bring a large community together,” Rodney says, noting that the flashy footwear can be great conversation starters. This, combined with a community impact mission to support youth with back to school supplies and shoes, led to the first event in 2021—and it’s only getting bigger from here. In preparation for the foundation’s biggest event, we chatted with Rodney and Erika about what to expect, the future of Sneaker Ball and more. To purchase tickets for the 2nd Annual Sneaker Ball, visit event.gives/sneakerball22. Enter Discount Code: “COFPSM”
How will the 2nd annual Ball be different from the first?
EM: This year's sneaker ball was really exciting for us. We're going to be in a brand new venue, the Vie by Cescaphe. So it is giving us a bit more space. Because we had such a great first event we're able to kind of curate the experience. People love that they were wearing sneakers that they were able to socialize with others and did not feel the need to sit down and have this roundtable talk. They can navigate the room. We'll have different speaker activations. The VIPs will of course enjoy their cigar rollers and all of that fun excitement outside. But this year, what will be a little bit different is that not only are we asking people to bring a newly or lightly used sneaker, but it's going to be to bring a school supply. We're trying to build up the backpacks for students, as we're emphasizing the importance of our education heroes this year as well as healthcare heroes, but the backpacks are significant to our motto of kids first—getting them prepared for school, making sure they're not behind on that.
What do the proceeds from the event go towards?
EM: All the proceeds are going back into us creating more programs that fit Change our Future's mission, and our mission is putting kids first through community empowerment, educational programming, career readiness, and it's so important for us to continue to build on what we have already started. We have Rod's Next Man Up men's mentoring program that's kick-starting this fall. So we're hoping that after this year, a successful year, we're able to take back to more schools across the Philadelphia community and then bridge that into other states around the United States.
Where do you see the future of Sneaker Ball going?
RM: I would love to see it expand to possibly an even larger venue—let's take it to the art museum. But to be honest, it's more about people just continuing to support our kids. I think it's a great event to bring amazing people together, but at the end of the day, the mission at hand is the kids and how we continue to pour back into them. And I believe the way that people can show their support is by getting involved with the event. Simply by attending—that can be a donation to a ticket or participating in the auction items. But there's also ways to volunteer and so time, as well as money, is very important and showing up for these kids and giving them your time and showing them that you truly care for them. Seeing you in the flesh also goes a long way. And so we want to encourage more people to not only get involved with Sneaker Ball, but get involved with a lot of the programs that we have going on. … It's more than just “where do we see Sneaker Bal (going)? We want to grow, but as growth happens, that means more people are believing in our mission…believing in the impact that we're having. Our goals are in line with theirs and they're looking to get involved and be a part and that's what we want. We want to really Change Our Future as a family community-oriented organization that encourages people to step up and to make a change.
What’s next for Change Our Future?
EM: Once we're able to fill these backpacks from Sneaker Ball it will be a back to school—more so just being in the community handing out those supplies. And after Next Man Up, we do 12 Days of Christmas. Usually around Thanksgiving, we do a Thanksgiving food groceries collection that we do at a school.
Photography by: Courtesy of Sneaker Ball
