Yesterday, Deland Foot & Leg Center collected and delivered 1404 pairs of shoes to Soles4Souls. Working together with Cress Restaurant and Buster’s Bistro, two additional drop off locations, we maximized the number of shoes collected. The shoe drive started with a Barefoot Challenge. http://www.dfalc.com/barefoot.html Could you go a day barefoot and experience the challenges people must face daily? As a podiatric surgeon, shoes are an integral part of healthy living, but what happens when this basic need is impossible to obtain? Soles4Souls is a global not-for-profit institution committed to fighting the devastating impact and perpetuation of poverty. The organization advances its anti-poverty mission by collecting new and used shoes and clothes from individuals, schools, faith-based institutions, civic organizations and corporate partners, then distributing those shoes and clothes both via direct donations to people in need and by provisioning qualified micro-enterprise programs designed to create jobs in poor and disadvantaged communities. Soles4Souls has distributed more than 22 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes to people in 127 countries.
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Soles4Souls is committed to the highest standards of operating and governance, and holds a four-star rating with Charity Navigator.
When interviewed regarding Soles4Souls’ biggest concerns, the CEO Buddy Teaster states, “Our biggest problem today is that we don’t have enough shoes,” Teaster said during an interview at company headquarters in Old Hickory, Tenn. “If we tripled the number of shoes we collect, they’d be gone in an instant. The demand on the microenterprise side and from the people in need of new pairs, we can’t even come close to meeting.”
To help aid those in need, Teaster has challenged the organization with an ambitious goal for the year: to increase the number of new and used pairs it collects by at least 20 percent. He said the bulk of its donated product still gets distributed in Haiti, but in recent months Soles4Souls has begun working more heavily in such countries as Moldova and Honduras, with budding operations also in Bolivia and Ghana.
Thank you to everyone who donated, collected, and spread the word. Visit
https://soles4souls.org/ to find out more.
Pledge Your Support. Spread the Word. Go Barefoot4Them.
CLICK HERE to $5.00=5 pairs of shoes or $25.00= 25 pairs of shoes