Our first participant is Stacey Reed from Souls4Souls. We first met Stacey at our Neighborhood Leaders Conference, where she served as a presenter. We decided to help Stacey collect shoes by encouraging attendees to donate a pair of shoes instead of paying the $5 registration fee.
Soles4Souls is a Nashville based charity that facilitates the delivery of shoes, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Soles4Souls distributes shoes in over 127 countries on 5 continents, including the U.S., Honduras,Guatemala, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Swaziland, Uganda, Iraq, Peru, Thailand, and Nepal. It is so easy for anyone to help give hope, simply by giving a pair of shoes, It is also a great way to recycle used shoes and keep them out of the landfills.
Stacey got involved with Soles4Souls originally, because her cousin who battles Huntington's Disease was having her own Shoe Drive in Franklin, Tn. She wanted to be her feet and wheels and decided she would help her collect. They collected over 1000 pairs of shoes that year. It was by helping her to help others that Stacey learned what great things Soles4Souls was doing to help people in need all over the world. She knew than that she wanted to collect as many shoes as she could, but she also wanted to inform others how they could help too.
Readers can help by hosting their own shoe drives at schools, offices, place of worship. You can just about host a shoe drive anywhere! They can also assist Stacey with her collecting, by helping her pick up, sort and count donations. She has been hosting a year long shoe drive to try and collect 30,000 pairs of shoes. Since she has had to start back to work, her efforts have had to slow down. So far, she has collected about 8,000 pairs of shoes. The donation of a warehouse where people could drop off their shoe donations at any time, would also be beneficial in helping Soles4Souls achieve the goal of changing the world one pair at a time.
To learn more about Soles4Souls you can visit their website: www.giveshoes.org. Contact Stacey via email: stacey21r@gmail.com.
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