Thursday, January 27, 2011

Goodness Comes from Your Sole





Today I came home to this flier attached to an empty plastic bag on my front porch. I like the message. While I may not have a lot of extra money to donate to charities, and not a lot of free time on my hands to volunteer, I do have shoes. It breaks my heart to hear about people all over the world who live in poverty and do not own a pair of shoes. This flier says that this charity is affiliated with Green Eyes in Africa. I don't know much about them but their concept is great too. It is a charity that provides "hand to mouth" donations to Africans from the US, and they have no overhead. They also aid in providing sanitation and education.

 I have heard about children in families all over the world that have to share one pair of shoes, and they have to rotate who gets to wear them. It seems so unjust. What is attractive about donating shoes to this organization is really, as the flier indicates, anyone can help! It costs a person nothing to collect shoes from their home in any size or condition and put them in the bag we are provided, and put them on our doorstep by the next morning. They can't make it any easier for us!

Although I did recently donate quite a few bags of clothes and shoes my children had outgrown, I have several pairs of my own shoes that are in great condition but for whatever reason I don't wear them any more. Black converse that I just grew tired of, 2 pairs of Saucony running shoes that had too many miles on them for running but are clean and no where near falling apart, another pair of practically brand new Nikes that I accidently bought in "wide" about 4 years ago and was too lazy to ever take them back...a pair of adorable Keen sandals that my son wore this last summer that were on the shoe rack in the garage, a pair of stylish leather Puma urban sneakers (???) that are also in excellent condition but are just a few seasons too old for me. Someone will be really grateful to have these shoes. It makes me happy to know that someone, somewhere will be wearing my shoes on their feet, rather than have to painfully walk barefoot in all types of weather conditions and terrain. I wonder who will get them? Will they be young or old? Will they be a mother? A student? Married? Optimistic, or broken in spirit? I wonder if they will even for a second be curious to know who their shoes came from, or if they will just be focused on getting through the day...

Today, I am thankful that my family does not have to worry about shoes. Enjoy your weekend all!

3 comments:

  1. That is a lovely idea. We take shoes like it's something we just have, that has always been there. One family sharing a single pair of shoes is hard for us to comprehend. I know I'm thankful for all the little things.

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  2. Great post! Just makes me think about all the shoes I have in different styles and colours and I dont think twice about them but there's people in the world who cant afford or dont have access to the simplest pair of shoes. Thanks for reminding me about this.

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  3. I want a plastic bag on my door-step so I can donate some of my shoes... I will be looking into this later this weekend. Thx for sharing :)

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