The Women on Mission of Stockdale Baptist Church participate in a different mission project every month, but last month’s donation of shoes to Soles4Souls was by far one of the most successful in the group’s history.Their donation was so large, in fact, that the Soles4Souls distribution center in Roanoke sent a truck to pick up the shoes. Even at that, “we barely got them all in there,” WOM director Mary Faulkner said of the approximately 1,500 pairs of shoes the group collected.
“WOM of Stockdale gives God all the glory and thanks for this great success,” she added.
“Stockdale did a great job,” said Jerry Cotney Jr. of the outreach division at Soles4Souls.
“The ladies of Stockdale WOM were very excited about their project,” Faulkner said.
The eight active members of WOM received assistance from their church congregation, but support for the shoe drive also came from other community and family members, said WOM member Brenda Crim. She said the largest contribution to the shoe collection came from a donor who wishes to remain unidentified. He learned of the project from his mail carrier, a member of the Stockdale congregation, and he contributed more than 400 pairs of shoes left over from a sale he had had.
Giveshoes.org, the Soles4Souls Web site, says more than 300 million children worldwide go without shoes, and the organization is fast making a crater in that plain of need by distributing new and used shoes to those who don’t have them.
Soles4Souls, a 501 (c)(3) corporation only three years old, began shortly after Hurricane Katrina, and has already distributed more than 3 million pairs of shoes worldwide. It has several collection centers throughout the United States, but the Roanoke location is the only distribution center. Cotney said that through partnering organizations, Soles4Souls sends shoes as far as Nepal, Africa, Latin America and Ukraine, but the largest percentage gets distributed in the U.S.
The Stockdale WOM may never know where their contributions end up, but to them, that is part of the magic. Of all the monthly projects she has participated in during her estimated 15 years with WOM, Crim said she enjoyed the Soles4Souls drive the most because she likes the thought of the shoes being distributed both locally and internationally to people in need.
Crim’s 11-year-old granddaughter also participated, and “she was so tickled over doing that,” Crim said.
Since WOM tries to do a different mission project every month, Faulkner said she wasn’t sure how soon the group would be able to collect shoes for Soles4Souls again, but, “I feel like we will again,” she said.
Getting Involved
The idea behind Soles4Souls is to serve as “a conduit from the excess to the needy,” Cotney said. “And it’s a tax write-off, so everybody wins.”
Soles4Souls receives many contributions from churches, but Cotney said anyone can get involved. The collection centers also receive donations from individuals, retailers, civic organizations, footwear manufacturers, corporations, businesses and schools, all of them eligible for tax advantages for their donations.
Approximately 86 percent of donations to Soles4Souls last year were new footwear from the industry, according to the organization’s 2007 annual report, but the shoes don’t have to be new, Cotney said.
Often people will send their gifts by UPS or FedEx. When one shipment from New York arrived at the distribution center in Alabama, Cotney said, the used shoes were still caked in ice from being worn in the snow.
Finish Line, a footwear retailer with more than 100 stores across the U.S., has gotten involved by facilitating a trade-in program.
“They encourage their customers to donate a pair of used shoes in return for a discount at their store,” Cotney said.
Donating shoes is an important service to the cause, but Cotney said individuals and organizations can also partner with Soles4Souls by assisting in distribution as well.
“If they see somebody in need, if they want to participate with us in the distribution end, then they can become one of our partners and we can supply them with shoes, and they can turn and give to those in need,” he said. “It doesn’t take much to be a partner, because we wanted to make it as easy as possible. We’re glad to do that on a small scale for individuals. Some people volunteer at local homeless shelters, for example, and all those people can use shoes.”
The Women on Mission is a group committed to informing and inspiring Baptist women to influence their world for Christ.
To help with the Soles4Souls mission, you may visit GiveShoes.org to find a donation site near you, or you may contact:
Soles4Souls Distribution Center
315 Airport Road
Roanoke, AL 36274
Phone: 334-863-6751
Soles4Souls, Inc.
2900 Lebanon Road, Suite 210
Nashville, Tenn. 37214
Phone: 615-391-5723
Toll Free Phone: 866-521.SHOE (7463)
Fax: 615.391.5730
E-mail: info@giveshoes.org
