When facing big things in the world, it’s easy to feel like there is nothing you can do about them. That’s how I felt before I made the “Donation Shoe” to help find a cure for T1D. My family has been facing T1D for 15 years, since my sister’s diagnosis. At 18 years old I felt like there was not much I could do to help and I wanted to contribute so, as any creator does, I turned to art.

The Donation Shoe sat in the hallway outside the theatre for 2 months at The Hackley School, Tarrytown, NY. A description was attached explaining that any money put inside the shoe went to JDRF to find a cure for T1D. A check was presented to JDRF for $140.

The Donation Shoe is larger than life, its size reflects upon the way I felt: dwarfed by the sheer enormity of what I wanted to do, but felt incapable of achieving. Its inspiration came from the JDRF logo, and my own memories of the walks from my childhood.

The process of making the piece was intense. It was started at the end of my junior year and wasn’t finished until the middle of my senior year. The bones of the Donation Shoe are chicken wire, a material that is quite sharp when cut. I couldn’t help but think that the one or two finger pricks the wire gave me were nothing compared to that of the endless finger pricks from a test kit.

I hope that when others look at the Donation Shoe they realize that it doesn’t matter how old you are or how much you have, anyone can make a difference. The shoe is now decorating the JDRF White Plains office.

Samantha Newman