Well it has been over a year now since I last updated my blog. In this past year many things have happened.
In September 2012 my mom and I went to Haiti for 5 days. It was an amazing experience! There were so many things that happened, so many new people I met and so many new sites that I saw that will change my life forever! I will write an additional post dedicated to Haiti after this one but I just want to inform everyone about the past year.
After the trip to Haiti I did not initiate as many collections but the shoes kept coming in! When I was in Haiti the interim CEO for Soles4Souls, David Graben, Kelly Hoskins, the Travel4Souls coordinator and Brian Granfors photographer for Soles4Souls were all on the trip too. We built a very good relationship and they have helped me with the collection and coordinating other events. Since the trip Soles4Souls has named me as a contact for a temporary warehouse drop point for shoes.
The Blake Elementary School collected shoes spring of 2013. I went to speak at their school for one of their morning meetings and their energy was amazing! I do not know the exact amount shoes that they collected but it was awesome to have an elementary school collect so many shoes.
There have been many amazing contacts that I have made other than with Soles4Souls. I now am in partnership with The Sanneh Foundation. The Sanneh Foundation was founded by Tony Sanneh, a retired professional soccer player. Since I have been collecting shoes for so long I have been getting multiple pairs of cleats. Even though Soles4Souls takes cleats, Tony collects any and all soccer equipment.
Minnetonka Moccasins has helped with storing shoes until there is enough to fit into a semi. Soles4Souls is going to send up a semi on October 6th, 2013 to take all of the shoes and bring them to another Soles4Souls warehouse. Minnetonka Moccasins has been an amazing company to work with. They are so helpful and ready to accept any shoes and store them without hesitation.
I am still working with 1-800-GOT-JUNK and it is awesome to have the trucks pick up large quantities of shoes and transport them for me. There help is always loved and appreciated. Another great company that is willing to help in many ways.
Even though it has only been a year the total number of shoes collected has continued to increase. The current total number of shoes collected to date is 50,266 pairs of shoes!!!!!
Thank you to everyone who has ever helped with the collection, donating shoes, or just giving your support. That and the constant need for shoes is what keeps me going!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
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