Culture & Community | New Haven Schools | Whalley/Edgewood/Beaver Hills
Six-year-old Leilani Bass and her mom, Layza Marrelo. Lucy Gellman Photos.
Leilani Bass studied the contours of a pint-sized Puma running shoe, her fingers tracing a blush-colored insole as she lifted it from the shelf. Against powder blue mesh, shiny pink and purple cutouts criss-crossed the shoe, cut with streaks of green and yellow that made the color pop. Lelaini burst into a smile: after a summer of transition and an unexpected move, she knew it would send her into the school year looking fresh.
Saturday morning, six-year-old Leilani was one of over 100 kids—and 75 family units—at Priceless Decisions’ fifth annual back-to-school sneaker event, held at Snipes’ 60 Whalley Ave. storefront in New Haven. Organized by Rosalyn Biggins, who grew up in Newhallville and now lives in Baltimore, the day is designed to help send kids to school in style and alleviate the financial burden of a new school year.
“I just want to help the kids of New Haven,” Biggins said Saturday, as she and fellow Priceless Decisions volunteers buzzed around the store in matching black and white shirts. As a native New Havener and a mom, she knows firsthand how an old, too-tight or threadbare pair of sneakers can lead quickly to bullying. She’s also experienced how quickly the cost of back-to-school shopping can add up.
Biggins (in the gray dress) and members of the Priceless Decisions volunteer crew.
“Having a new pair of sneakers on the first day” may seem like a small material thing, she added—but it can make the difference between whether or not a student feels physically and emotionally ready to take on a new school year, and whether or not they get teased by their peers. With the rise of social media, she said, that bullying has only gotten worse: more kids have reported depression and suicidality at younger ages.
So for five years, she’s stepped in to help fill the gap. After putting out a call for community donations, she raised roughly $10,000 for the event, or $150 for each family that attended. She also pounded the pavement, connecting with summer schools, day camps, barbershops, and salons in New Haven. In total, 600 families applied for 75 slots, she said.
For her, it’s natural, she said: she loves giving back to the city that raised her. She’s been excited to watch the event, which started with 25 kids in 2018, blossom into an annual ritual that people look forward to.
Saturday, a steady stream of kids entered the store, sometimes jogging over to a bright display of sneakers that lines the back wall. There, all make and manner of shoe peeked out: Nike hi-tops with gold and glitter accents, tiny black and tan Timberlands, forest green and black New Balances with lace-up and velcro options, kid-sized Croc slip ons patterned with the Puerto Rican flag.
Bouncing between them, Leilani scanned the shelves for bright colors, pointing to a few pink and purple shoes that she liked when she couldn’t reach them herself. A rising first grader at Lincoln Bassett Community School in Newhallville, she’s excited for the new year, she said—especially for new lessons in math. Now, she also has at least one piece of her back-to-school outfit figured out.
Shopping for shoes feels certain in a summer of unexpected transition: a fire destroyed her family’s home earlier this summer, and she’s been living in West Haven for weeks. For a while, she was afraid that the move meant she wouldn’t be able to return to Lincoln Bassett. Her mom, Layza Marrelo, remembered how grateful she felt when she learned that the family had been selected for the sneaker event.
“It makes me feel happy that the community has something like this for the kids,” she said.
Just a few feet away, New Havener Shanata Smith-Harrison echoed that gratitude. Born and raised in Hartford, Smith-Harrison moved to New Haven several years ago, where she is raising her family. As a mom of seven, she knows what it’s like to juggle the costs of school supplies, new clothes, extracurriculars, and specialized care for her kids.
Saturday, she was hard at work helping her 4-year-old daughter, McKenzie, and 7-year-old twins, Leo and Leon, find the perfect shoes for their return to school next week. Leo, who is a student at East Rock Magnet School, said he likes learning, and was ready to get back in the classroom.
“This is a really good event,” she said. “It helps with the cost—it’s one less thing that we have to worry about.”
Shanata Smith-Harrison with McKenzie and Leo. Bottom: Mom Brandi Alston-Rice (at center) with her kids, Bailey and Khalio Williams.
Halfway across the store, volunteer Penelope “Ms. Penny” Suggs paused by a rack of t-shirts for a moment, fielding questions from parents and kids as they fanned out across the store. As Biggins’ aunt, she comes to the event as a volunteer every year. She said it makes her proud to watch her niece give back to her community in such an intentional way.
“I love to see the smiles on kids’ faces when they get new sneakers,” she said as brothers Kamari and Jacari Reid started a game of hide and seek amidst the racks of shoes and apparel nearby. “To go to school and feel comfortable is really a blessing.”
Minutes later, she was directing friends Yumer Yilmaz and Harmony Bedell to a long table of adult shoes near the front of the store. Both rising sophomores at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, the two spoke to how much the event has helped them on the cusp of a new school year—and how mean other students can sometimes be.
“What you wear doesn’t define you,” Bedell said.
“Yeah, nobody should be discriminated against based on what they’re wearing,” Yilmaz said.
Yumer Yilmaz, Keke Douglas and Harmony Bedell. Bailey Williams hopped into the photo at the last minute.
As they chatted, fellow Co-Op student Kiara “Keke” Douglas joined the conversation. As Biggins’ niece, she’s been part of the sneaker event “since day one,” she said. She’s been proud to see it grow.
“Sometimes at school, people will be like, ‘Look how she’s dressed, she looks like she got her clothes at WalMart,’” Douglas said. As a student, she knows that a new outfit or piece of clothing—however surface-level it may seem—can give a kid the boost of confidence that they may need.
“Seeing my aunt give back to the community and being so young, it really shaped me,” she said. “On social media, you see all the bad stuff. Seeing kids’ faces light up here—it’s the best.”
Top: 14-year-old Jahniyah Clark. Bottom: Mom Theresa Bethea (in blue shirt) and three of her four kids, Gordon Sanuel, Kamari Reid, and Jacari Reid. "It's excellent," she said of the event.
That was true for 14-year-old Jahniyah Clark, a rising freshman at Achievement First Amistad High School. An aspiring track star with a love of science and history, she said she is excited—and a little nervous—to start high school next week.
Now, she’ll be doing it on the right foot. Or rather, the right feet. In her hands, she held out a box of New Balance sneakers like an offering, giving a sneak peek of their green-and-lilac accented sole when asked.
“I feel like meeting new people is kind of my thing,” she said. “I’m really grateful that they did this.”