We had the good fortune of connecting with Tanner Craven and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tanner, how does your business help the community?
At Sole for Souls our mission is to provide new athletic shoes to children in our community, so they can live a healthy and active lifestyle, while sharing the message of God. We believe as a faith based non-profit organization that we have a huge impact on our community. Our organization looks to help not only the kids and their families, but also be a service to the school districts in North Texas. We understand that shoes are important to students to be able to participate in a healthy lifestyle not only at school, but at home as well. In our communication with administrators in the education field we have also learned that their is a huge psychological component to students have quality shoes to wear while at school. We have grow to learn that our mission has a far greater impact than we once began with, and we are excited about the lives we will touch. With more that 350 Title I schools in the North Texas area we have only scratched the surface of addressing the need in our community.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My wife Courtney and I have both been educators for our entire careers. We were fortunate to both grow up in supportive families that valued education, and we took that to heart. We are both very athletic oriented and played sports through out our youth and high school years. We took that passion to coach in the public school system and begin our journey in education. As a coach I have seen many different school districts and families in many different communities. All of them had something in common, and that was a need to keep up for the ever growing needs of kids. So after 15 years in education we started our non-profit organization Soles for Souls.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Living in North Texas we have many options for entertainment and the like. All of our sporting venues are awesome with a great fan experience. A Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars, or Rangers game would be top of the list. We have amazing restaurants with a great variety of dining experiences. During the day Clyde Warren Park is a nice outdoor place to enjoy sunshine and relaxation with food truck on site to grab a bite. Being in downtown we have some great museums to touch on history and have an interactive experience.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost we want to thank all of our fellow educators for the service and calling they serve to educate the students of our country and community. We also want to thank our Church and Christian family at City Point Church Allen.

We have found great support from our community business leaders that believe in what our organizations mission is. Credit Union of Texas; Welborn Garage Doors; Fast Signs Allen; and many other individual donors that have allowed us to reach out and help the kids in North Texas.

Website: solesforsoulsntx.com

Instagram: solesforsoulsntx

Twitter: @solesforsoulsntx

Facebook: solesforsoulsntx

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