It is an idea that is beautiful in its simplicity: collect shoes from people who have too many, and give them to those without any.
The Nashville-based Soles4Souls will collect new and gently-used footwear at several area sites this week, and the charity's RV Tour will stop at the Stride-Rite store in the Goodwives Shopping Center in Darien on Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m.
All of the area Stride-Rite stores, including those at the Westfield Trumbull mall and the Danbury Fair mall, and in Westport, will be drop-off centers for donated stores, said Gail Stevens, the company's regional licensee.
Stevens and her husband have already donated more than 5,000 pairs of shoes, most from their Milford warehouse. "Before we connected with Soles4Soles we contacted the U.S. Army, and they brought the shoes over to Iraq, where our soldiers give them to children and create goodwill,'' Stevens said.
The shoes her company has donated so far have been new--inventory that has not sold or is out of season--but Stevens said the Stride-Rite stores will accept donations of used shoes.
"We will have special discounts for customers who donate a pair and then buy a pair of shoes on Thursday,'' she said. "But since school just started and a lot of people recently bought shoes, we'll offer a coupon that [donors] can use the next time they do need shoes.''
Souls4Soles has been active in Milford and lower Fairfield County for more than two years. The organization
sponsors a Barefoot Week every June that culminates in Barefoot Sunday, at which churchgoers are encouraged to donate the shoes off their feet or pairs from the back of the closets.
The Mary Taylor United Methodist Church collected more than 500 pairs during the event in June, the Rev. Virginia Hoch said. "It was very successful and we plan to do it again next year.'' The shoes collected at Mary Taylor were shipped to Soles4Souls' distribution center by Stevens.
More than half of all the shoes collected remain in the U.S., said Elizabeth Kirk, the charity's spokeswoman.
"Our founder, Wayne Elsey, was inspired to start a non-profit by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,'' Kirk said Thursday. "We've given shoes to people affect by the California wildfires and to men being released from prison. We make sure that they have a pair of dress shoes to go out on job interviews.'' Students at St. Catherine of Sienna school, at 190 Shelton Road in Trumbull, are also participating in the Soles4Souils drive this week.
Donated new or gently worn shoes can be dropped off during school hours all week; they'll be given to the charity on Thursday.
Sylvania and Alan Clark, retired empty-nesters, will be driving the Soles4SolesRV as it makes stops in Long Island and southern Connecticut this week.
Kirk said the couple has been on the road since March, traveling at first randomly but now with the intent of reaching the Pacific Northwest by Christmas, the publicist said.
Along the way the Clarks collect donations and provide education about "shoe inequity.'' "Your used pair can be someone else's new pair,'' Stevens said.
"They've already distributed 5 million pairs of shoes to 125 countries.'' Kirk said that no shoes, however worn, will be rejected.
"We classify them into categories: A,B,C and D. The Ds are shoes that someone has worn for years to mow the lawn. There's no much we can do with those, but we'll recycle them.
"One thing for sure is that we want to keep shoes out of the landfills,'' the organization's spokeswoman said.
For more information visit: www.giveshoes.org
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