Last week we had the unique opportunity to spend a day out of the office, but probably work harder than we do in a typical day – and still have a lot of fun doing it. The StorageMart’s in Missouri acts as collection points for new and gently used pairs of shoes being donated to those less fortunate and last week we set out to collect and sort out those donations.
To say we were not quite prepared for what we found would be a bit of an understatement. There were shoes, boots, shoes, sandals, shoes, slippers and more shoes. By the time we hand sorted out, paired up and bagged all the donations we had filled a 10-foot moving van with more than 4,000 pounds (That’s two tons!) of shoes, comprised of nearly 3,700 individual pairs.
Travelling Shoes
Those shoes will now make their way to Haiti and possibly other developing areas in South America and Africa thanks to the work of two great groups. Hope for Caribbean Kids works specifically to elevate the lives and welfare of children living in Haiti and the Shoeman Water Project works to bring shoes to those who need them in the Caribbean, South America and Africa as well as funding projects to bring clean, drinkable water to those underdeveloped parts of the world as well.
It was a tiring day, but definitely a rewarding one seeing just how fruitful our donation drive has been. We were also able to make some new friends in Iva and Richard Presberry of Hope for Caribbean Kids, who teamed up with us to sort through the shoes and took charge of their transport and preparation for being shipped out.
You can find out more about these two great organizations by visiting them online at http://www.hope4caribbeankids.org/ and http://www.shoemanwater.org/.