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Biography

In 2021, Erwin Molley, a member of the Listugui community of Quebec, created “Kicks for Kids,” a non-profit organization for kids who do not own decent sports shoes. As Erwin says, “It started with basketball. I noticed some kids just did not have the proper shoes” (Jacques, 2023, para. 1). After realizing that the kids in his community of Listugui were lacking decent sports shoes, Erwin felt compelled to start this organization to help the youth. He has been providing sports training year-round for the past three and a half years. During the summer, Erwin created a basketball camp to help develop young players’ skills and endurance. When kids attended either the camps or the year-round training for a consecutive number of days, they would be offered a pair of new sports shoes – for a sport of their choice – as a recognition of their commitment and determination. Along with providing support to individual kids, Erwin’s energy encouraged the wider community as well, and over the past three and half years, increasing numbers of children and youth have taken part in this sports program. In addition to running “Kicks for Kids.” Erwin Molley has many other roles in the community of Listuguj. He is a councillor of the Listuguj Mi’gamq Government, and he is the male mentor for the Listuguj Community Social Services Directorate; as a male mentor, Erwin provides teachings for males in the community of Listuguj who do not go hunting, fishing, and camping.

Creating Opportunities

Watching youth play sports is fantastic because it brings enjoyment to see them succeed. I believe this has been Erwin’s intention, since he built his non-profit organization to help all youth and families who do not have proper shoes. He helps families who are financially stressed because Erwin believes that all kids want to play sports, and it can be challenging for these families to access shoes. As Jaques (2023) says, “Some families have multiple children who are enrolled in sports, and shoes can run $50-$90. While it is a free service for all children, Molley does encourage youth to show they are committed to a sport and are dedicated when it comes to attending practices and games before opting for free footwear” (para. 3). With this helping the financial burden is going to be a stress reliever. The “Kicks for Kids” program allows all kids to play any sport they want with access to new footwear as long they show dedication.

Erwin offers year-round training for youth from the ages of 7 to 16. He trains three times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. During these trainings, he prepares the middle school youth for the kind of intensity they can expect on high school sports teams. Erwin also runs basketball camps during the summers. The camp ages are 5 to 16, and he uses two schools, Alaqsite’w Gitpu School and Sugarloaf Senior High School. He has been operating camps at both schools for the past two years, and enrollment has been growing every year. These trainings and camps are part of the “Kicks for Kids” program, and all the children and youth who have met the participation requirements are proud and happy to receive a new pair of shoes after their successful experience.

If you want to hear more about Erwin’s non-profit organization, I have included a link to a podcast where he was interviewed by Peter Tardif. (The second Link)

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Jacques M. A., (2023). Starting kids off on the right foot in 2021, Listuguj Wi’gatien. https://news.listuguj.ca/starting-kids-off-on-the-right-foot-since-2021/

Tardif P., CBC. (2023). Kicks for kids, Free sneakers for young athletes. CBCListen. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-87-quebec-am/clip/15979156-kicks-kids-free-sneakers-young-athletes