EAGAN, Minn. — Mark Jacobson surveyed his surroundings and struggled to find the words.

Last Tuesday, a handful of Vikings players spent their day off greatly impacting a different game: life. They gathered at TCO Stadium to surprise about 2,000 youth on hand for the fourth-annual Tradehome Shoes event that is designed to help gear up kids from adoption and foster agencies for the school year.

The undertaking is the evolution of an idea spurred by Jacobson’s daughter, Kaia, when she was a fourth-grader at Ellsworth Elementary. Kaia spotted classmates wearing worn-out sneakers, some with their toes poking through the tops, and relayed concern to her dad, a pro in the shoe business.

A bake sale progressed into an initiative at Tradehome that allocates $1 for every item sold toward purchasing shoes and donating them locally. In partnership with the Vikings, the cause has exploded.

Jacobson got emotional as he studied the scene, kids blanketing the space with warmth and happiness.

“It makes you tear up,” the Tradehome Vice President of Store Personnel said. “It feels good to see how it grows and evolves and becomes a living, breathing [entity]. It’s so much more than one person and one person’s idea. And then even to think about that fourth-grade class and how each one of them gained some knowledge and now they are all going to go out there and possibly doing different things in their community. It’s just unbelievable – a pinch-yourself moment. I don’t know, it’s hard to describe.”

At this year’s event, straight from tables containing endless rows of shoe boxes piled over six-feet high, a little more than 2,000 pairs were distributed, along with bundles of socks and free meals for participants.

“The cool part of it is to be able to see each year how it’s grown and evolved,” Jacobson said, stepping away from greeting a flock of youth to reflect on the event. “We get a little more efficient each year, but it’s how it’s grown inside of the community – the first year had like 300 kids and then it went to like 700 or 800 kids and last year 1,600 kids, and this year there’s nearly 2,000. I’d say it’s one of my favorite days if not my favorite day of the year. I mean, just look around. You’ve got all these kids being able to get new shoes and backpacks and socks, and to be able to walk on the Vikings field, throw a football around and to be able to have a good meal. You mix all of it together, and how can it get any better than that?”