The Begining

It all started with one homework assignment for a community service project, in February 2010.

I was brainstorming on what I could do on my way home from school that day. I told my mom about the project that we had to do. She had mentioned that our family friends the Shelton's who had started a organization to collect shoes for kids in Haiti (for more information on the Shelton's organization, go to flipflopfleet.blogspot.com).

After the 7.1 horrible disastrous earthquake hit, I thought that it would be a great service project to do for school, because kids couldn't go to school without shoes on their feet.

In February I got all of my contacts and dates rolling with the project. In March I went into all of the 18 classrooms in my school sharing the story about the people have in Haiti and the effects of the earthquake on their lives. I then encouraged my schoolmates to donate shoes from the back of their closets. In March I was also interviewed by KTIS (Christian Radio), as well as channel 5, Twin Cities Live. Both of these interviews brought in several hundred pair of shoes across the Twin Cities.
Twin Cities Live Interview

April came and I began collecting shoes through my church community. The shoes poured in and the space in my parents garage shrank.

In May I completed my initial collection and began the long process of sorting, counting, and organizing the 4,142 pairs of flip flops, high heels, tennis shoes, kids shoes, sandals, size 16 converse high tops, and a variety of many more. Only one huge hurdle was left...how do I get the shoes to those in need?

On Time Delivery Services learned of my collection, and project donating the man power, vehicle, gas, and time to transport the shoes to a warehouse facility in Shelton, Iowa.

June more shoes rolled in. I collected shoes from my church's vacation bible school. All of these shoes were given to the Flip Flop Fleet Organization, and my garage was empty.