William Lerner, also known as Billy Lerner, is an American businessman and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

who founded his own nonprofit organization, Billy4Kids, that donates shoes to children around the world.

Philanthropy

Lerner actively supports work for the prevention, management, and curing of diseases in children.

Billy4Kids

Lerner is the co-founder of Billy4Kids, a non-profit organization "dedicated to helping children in need by providing them with one essential item often taken for granted: shoes." Lerner conceived the idea for Billy4Kids after reading an article about children who were dying from foot-borne diseases contracted from unprotected feet in developing countries. Billy4Kids was founded to provide underprivileged children with shoes, and to assist other charitable organizations. Donations to Billy4Kids support bulk shoe purchases which are then distributed in poverty-stricken areas of

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Other charitable work

Lerner is actively involved in numerous other charities and organizations.

Awards

On July 16, 2014, Lerner was honored with the Humanitarian Award by host

Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor. He has appeared in the films ''Born on the Fourth of July (film), Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Posse (1993 film), Posse'' (1993), ''8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome (1994 ...

at the 3rd Annual Edeyo Gives Hope Ball.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, William Philanthropists from New York (state) Living people Businesspeople from Manhattan Year of birth missing (living people)