Lansing - Mayor David Hollister came down from his 10th floor office Wednesday to buy a paper from an Old Newsboy.
Since 1924, the Old Newsboys Newspaper has been raising money to buy footwear for needy schoolchildren by selling newspapers with spoof news stories about people in the public eye.
The paper is printed and written by the Lansing State Journal.
On Friday, more than 400 Old Newsboys sales people will be stationed throughout the city selling the papers.
Tom Shiels has been with the organization since 1968 and was a past president.
He said the tradition began in 1910, when truancy officer George Palmer, noticed many children were not attending school in winter because they had no shoes to wear. It was taken in over in 1924 by the Old Newsboys Association.
Last year, the charity helped more than 4,000 schoolchildren receive shoes and boots for winter. It serves Lansing area schools as well as some out-of-area schools.
School counselors are asked to take note of children in need of new shoes or boots, and families can fill out applications to receive a voucher accepted at area stores for the footwear. The charity also receives discounts at stores.
Shiels said many people have been involved with the event, including past Michigan governors.
He said the Old Newsboys will even go to the Oldsmobile plant at 6 a.m. to sell papers as employees came to work.
“Our goal is $175,000, that is $30,000 than more than last year,” he said. “But we can do it, the generosity of the people of Lansing is overwhelming.”
Hollister said he has been involved with the group since 1991 and will be at Lansing City Hall, 124 W. Michigan Ave., Friday raising money for the charity.
“It’s all in good humor whether it is the president or the governor or the mayor (written about in the paper),” he said.
Michael Logan has been with the Old Newsboys since 1986 and was a president. He said he received shoes as a child from the charity.
“It puts the money back in our community,” he said. “I have gotten ladies that come up to me that are handing me $50 bills saying they were helped when they were young, you get many stories like that.”
