North Carolina Churches Collect over 5,500 Pairs of Shoes for Those in Need

Twelve Guilford County churches in North Carolina, three churches in Lexington and one each in Archdale, Kernersville and Reidsville joined forces recently to collect more than 5,500 pairs of shoes for victims of natural disasters and those living in extreme poverty.

The campaign, which was led by First Lutheran Church in Greensboro, is part of Soles4Souls efforts to provide shoes for those in need worldwide.

As of June 23 , the churches had collected 5,635 pairs, and a volunteer will buy 120 to 130 pairs of shoes from local thrift stores with $700 in donations. The biggest single contribution was $250 from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Local company Xpedx contributed dozens of boxes, packing tape and transportation of boxes to a terminal in Greensboro where another local company, which prefers to remain anonymous, will transport the shoes to a Soles4Souls warehouse in Nashville.

About 25 percent of the shoes were taken to Greensboro Urban Ministry. Many of the churches recently participated in Barefoot Sunday, where people left their shoes on the altar or at the front of the church to be donated to those in need.

David Bills , pastoral minister at New Garden Friends Meeting , challenged his parishioners to fill up his pickup truck with shoes. They easily met the challenge, he said. The campaign also took numerous volunteers to help count, sort and box all the shoes.

"It's been a great project because it involved so many churches and lots of volunteers who banded and boxed the shoes," Frank Moore, director of community ministries at First Lutheran , said. "I've been thrilled and grateful for the response and look forward to doing it again well, maybe after a break."

Shoes to Uganda

Assist International, in partnership with Soles4Souls, delivered athletic shoes to orphans in Bugembe, Uganda. Soles4Souls provides Assist International with footwear to support them in their orphan and widow projects in remote villages of Africa and Asia.

Tim Reynolds, the Executive Director at Assist International, handed out shoes donated by END footwear to the children of the village.

"The kids were so excited to receive their first pair of tennis shoes," said Reynolds. "Most of them were either barefoot or wearing sandals too large or too small for them. They had never learned how to tie a pair of shoes," he said.

More shoes are being sent to Bugembe in July for the children yet to receive a pair.

Sol Collecting Shoes

Sol, a fashionable, modern shoe store in Casper, Wyoming has become a permanent drop-off point for new or gently-worn shoes as a partner in the Soles4Souls program.

Sol became a drop-off location when buyer and manager Shirley Bower heard about the program at a buying show.

"With the times being so hard, that's the time you need to reach out," Bower said. "We're so blessed here, we just felt we needed to give."

From flip-flops to heels, any pair of gently worn shoes will do.

"Any kind of shoe you can give, they can use it. For some people, this is their first pair of shoes," Bower said. "For some, just even having a flip-flop keeps them from getting diseases."

Shoes go all over the country and the world, to anyone who may need them but can't afford to buy a pair. Some of the shoes go to women's shelters. Heels can be helpful for women interviewing to get back into the job market.

"We're going to give some just for those women going back to work," Bower said.

So far, Casperites have come out en force to donate, with Sol collecting about 500 pairs of shoes in the last several weeks.

"We offer $10 off tickets, but most people don't want anything," Bower said. "They just cleaned out their closets."

A Gift at Royal Family Kids Camp

Linda Chenot with Royal Family Kids Camp sent us this email of kids receiving footwear in an unusual and exciting way.

On Wednesday afternoon after 30/30 time we all headed out to the softball field for a group sporting game, and an exciting afternoon of surprises. While we are all playing on the softball field the local fire department showed. At first the kids weren’t sure if there was a fire or something but when they saw Ms. Caelyn, the Bible teacher, on the truck waving, they all ran towards the truck with excitement.

The fire department spent time showing the kids the truck, all the different compartments and talked to them about fire fighting. Then they began giving the campers and counselors rides around the campground on the fire truck. Each camper got to wear a fire hat while they were on the fire truck.

While campers were getting rides on the fire truck, the second truck began to hose down the softball field, which entertained the rest of us. After hosing down the field we realized that they were actually making a giant X on the far end of the field. All the kids were talking about what they were doing and why they were marking the field. Right about that time we saw a helicopter in the sky, circling around and getting lower. It was beautiful…..it first appeared through the dark stormy clouds, and then circled around to the clear blue skies, through the clouds and began its descent to land right in front of us.

As it got closer the kids got more and more excited, jumping up and down and waving and cheering. WOW…..what an experience! Once the local “flight for life” helicopter had landed the campers got to take pictures with the helicopter and “flight for life” team.

If all the pictures with the fire truck, the helicopter and fire truck rides were not exciting enough…….the next one was picture perfect. The fire fighters had all the kids’ line up right in front of the helicopter and fire truck, shoulder to shoulder and the fire fighters and “flight for life” team handed our brand new crocs to each camper that had been donated by Soles4Souls. What an exciting afternoon!

Market Street Shoes

Market Street Athlete in Seattle, WA has been collecting gently worn shoes for Soles4Souls for about a year now.

"We look at it as an opportunity to have a way for the community to give back to people in need," said owner Ryan Stauffer.

Inside his store, the collection box is right next to the register so customers who buy new shoes know they can come back with their old, unwanted shoes. And they do.

"In fact, just this morning, someone came in with two shopping bags full," Stauffer said.

The Market Street Athlete collects 250 pairs of shoes each month.

ZIPZ Shoes to Donate 18,000 Pairs of Shoes to Soles4Souls

Orange County-based ZIPZ Shoes will donate 18,000 pairs of their state-of-the-art, interchangeable shoes valued at $300,000 to Soles4Souls this week.

Jerry Stefani, creator and founder of ZIPZ Shoes says, "The result of changing styles and patterns from our 2008 inventory will give thousands of less fortunate children around the world the first look at some of the newest and hippest shoes on the planet."

ZIPZ Shoes is a unique system where the shoe tops and bottoms -- "covers" and "souls" as ZIPZ calls them -- are interchangeable to create different combinations. The separate pieces are available in a variety of patterns, styles and colors in toddler, youth and adult sizes.

The shoes are currently being sold in numerous worldwide retailers and will appear in multiple United States retail locations this fall to begin their nationwide launch. Currently, a limited number of shoes are available for preorder at http://www.zipzshoes.com/.

Shoes to Liberia

Temple Baptist Ministries is a partner of Soles4Souls in Liberia, Africa. These pictures, sent last week, capture children and men receiving shoes for the first time! Below is the note from the point man on the ground, Guanue Gbendah:

Hi Soles4Souls,
these were my best photos for the week. These kids were very happy to have getting the shoes, these two men in their 80 years and this is their first shoes they ever had!
What a blessing, and words cannot express it.

In His Service:
Pastor Guanue Gbendah your partner

Woman's Life Inspires Massive Shoe Drive

More than a year after her passing, Mary Sumner is still remembered for many reasons.

Her spunk and energy, even into her 80s, inspired those who knew her — especially at Sumner’s home church of Blue Ridge Chapel in Hillsville, VA.

Finding a way to honor Sumner, who served as director of the New River Baptist Women’s Ministry and WMU for several years, was as easy as taking off a shoe.

“Anyone who knew Mary Sumner remembers her vivaciousness and contagious happiness, her love for little dressy high heels, and her love and support for missions. After her death, the women of the New River Baptist Association tried to think of a way to honor her,” said Evelyn Beamer, a member of both the NRBA and Blue Ridge Chapel. “After learning about Soles4Souls and its mission of providing shoes — new or gently used — to people all over the world in need of shoes, it seemed like the perfect fit.”

The effort culminated June 17 with the delivery of 977 pairs of shoes to Virginia Produce, where the shoes were readied to be shipped to Soles4Souls’ world headquarters in Nashville, Tenn.

Beamer said the effort began during the annual meeting of the New River Baptist Association WMU and Women’s Ministry, when the group agreed to sponsor a shoe drive for Soles4Souls during the month of May in honor of Sumner. In total, nine different churches and a beauty salon contributed shoes to the cause.

“We appreciate everybody’s thoughtfulness in getting shoes to us and in getting us new shoes,” said Mary Ann Combs, a member at Blue Ridge Chapel. “Some were new shoes and that was so impressive. It just shows what a good kind of people Carroll County has got.”

Beamer and other organizers were overwhelmed by the amount of shoes the churches were able to collect in a little over a month’s time. She said it was just as amazing to see what transpired during a Sunday morning church service on May 31 at Blue Ridge Chapel. That day, Pastor David Moore caught the congregation offguard when he invited people to leave the shoes they were wearing at the altar and to think about people who didn’t have shoes as they left church barefoot. Moore was the first to leave his shoes at the altar. By the end of the service, 37 other people had left their shoes.

“It was amazing how many people left their Sunday shoes at the altar. And it was a sacrifice because it was their good shoes,” Beamer said. “Most of them have been really good shoes.”

Church members know Sumner would be excited by the mission, especially if she could have seen the room at Blue Ridge Chapel that housed the shoes, a room so full you could barely open the door.

“Mary would be so proud,” said Combs. “One thing she loved so good was her high heel shoes. Every time we paired up a pair of high heels, I thought of her. I think she would be so pleased we did that in her honor.”

PUMA and Soles4Souls Receive Footwear Donation from Aaron Eckhart

[click here to read more about this program]

Soles4Souls and PUMA are currently working together to collect shoes for people in need around the world. All PUMA stores are offering 30% off to customers who bring in a pair of their own gently worn shoes to donate. Customers will have until July 12th to take advantage of the generous discount.

As part of the kickoff for this fantastic event, PUMA and Soles4Souls set up two oversized donation boxes in New York City for people to come by and toss in their shoes and walk away with a pair of Soles4Souls flip-flops as a thank you.

Several celebrities, including movie star Aaron Eckhart, made a donation of his very own kicks. Aaron is the star of such movies as "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "Thank You For Smoking."

We are very grateful that he took the time out to give us his shoes -- even though the person who receives these New Balance shoes will never know that a famous movie star once owned them, we know they will be thrilled to have a good pair of athletic shoes....