Arkansas Mom Buys Out Payless Store for Kids in Need

When Arkansas mother Carrie Jernigan’s daughter asked to buy a pair of shoes for a friend who needed new shoes, she got an idea while standing in a Payless store hosting a close-out sale; she was going to buy the rest of the store’s shoes.
Jernigan jokingly asked the clerk how much it would cost to buy the rest of the shoes, but then took her own joke seriously when the clerk called her back later with a price. Jernigan took the offer and purchased over 1,500 pairs of shoes, ranging in infants to men’s sizes to give back to her community of Alma before kids return to school.
While Jernigan is storing the shoes at her home for now, the community, churches and local businesses have gotten together to donate other items like backpacks, free haircuts and eye exams for a huge community back-to-school event. Jernigan is humble about her generosity, saying that “It makes you do one little thing for the student fixing to go back to school…it matters to that kid.” Here’s more from NBC News.