The first was in response to a magazine article I read a while back. George Hutchings (aka the Kenya Shoe Man) is trying to collect 100,000 pairs of shoes. He sells them to a used clothes processing company, and is using the money to fund a water drilling operation in Kenya.
There are several places in the area that have volunteered to be drop-off points for the shoes; they all sport bright yellow signs that say "Kenya Shoe Drop-Off". I see one of the signs almost every day, which has kept the project at the top of my to-do list.The only problem is that I didn't have any shoes to donate. The boy's closets were cleaned out long ago, and Tony and I tend to wear our shoes till they're falling apart. Today I bought shoes at a garage sale specifically to donate, then donated shoes to the Kenya Shoe Man.
The first garage sale I went to had only a small selection of shoes, and I thought they were overpriced. However, I hit the jackpot at the second! The sale was raising money for a soccer team; a sign proclaimed that sixteen families were participating! There was a large selection of very reasonably priced childrens shoes that were in great shape. I explained why I was buying the shoes, and got two plastic grocery bags. I filled the bags with a selection of shoes, not caring about the size or the style. I let some of the soccer players help me pick out the shoes, but threw in a couple of pairs just because I liked the way they looked.
I took my bags to the nearest shoe drop off point and left them in the lobby with about two dozen other pairs of shoes. Driving away, I felt good because I helped out two groups today!
oooh that's really cool. i need to see if they have drop offs here!
ReplyDeleteRYQ: no, i actually wasn't sore the next day. i was a little sore at the end of the class period.