So far my total number of shoes from the past two years is 24,421 pairs!!!!
As the collection has continued, I now want to know more about the people who receive the shoes and how this collection has changed their lives. Soles4Souls offers a competition where the person who collects the most shoes in a set period of time, earns a trip to where ever Soles4Souls delivers. I want to go to Haiti. Since January 2012, I have collected 16,072 pairs of shoes!!!! I recently found out that I was in second place, until the St Vincent de Paul Church collection, family and friends drop and the community drop date this past weekend, March 17-18th at St. Vincent de Paul Church.
This past weekend alone, we collected 3,784 pairs of shoes!!!! It was a HUGE success!!! I now have more shoes than the person who was in front of me, to the best of my knowledge.
This past weekend I had a LOT of help from my family (Grandma and Grandpa Smith, brother Charles, sister's Grace Anne and Sophia, Mom & Dad), friends (especially - Hailey, Kaitlyn, Erin and Gabby) and also 1-800-GOT-JUNK (Caleb and Cornelius). The Family and Friends collection went really well too bringing in 1,353 pairs of shoes!!!!
Besides the family and friends collection many people from all over collected shoes for the collection, to include: Mr. Gerard - Principal at St. Thomas Catholic School in International Falls, a second grade class in Fridley, a United Methodist Church, a couple doctors and two nurses collected at their clinics.
I was also honored to be featured on the Fox 9 newscast with Maury Glover. See attached link to that video. My little brother Charles, REALLY wanted to be on TV.
Today I spoke to 18 classrooms about why I am collecting, how important shoes are and answered their questions about the shoes. That was fun. Someone actually called me a "movie star", that was funny.
Looking ahead - I am hoping to continue to collect from many areas bringing in another 7,000-10,000 pair of shoes....I am reaching out to other communities, churches and have been in contact with KTIS - planning for another 1 or 2 community wide collections in the next 5 weeks!!!!! Please pray for the success of this collection, for those who have given of themselves and for those who will be receiving the shoes!
I am thankful for all of the support from so many people that I know, and so many that I don't know. I keep saying how cool it is how one small idea has turned into something so big.
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| Here is Mr Gerard, principal at St Thomas Catholic School in International Falls |
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| Gabby holding one of the cute boxes that a second grade class made for their collection! |
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| ....here is a closer look at the box! Isn't this so cute!!!!! |
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| 1-800-GOT-JUNK, Caleb & Cornelius helped us sort, tie, bag and load the 3,775 pair of shoes onto their truck! THANK YOU!!!! |
