Soles4Souls: Giving Those In Need A Better Footing For A Better Life

By Shannon Hicks

Soles4Souls is a shoe charity that donates shoes to adults and children in need. Thanks to the effort of one resident, Newtown is about to become part of the international network of locations that hosts shoe drives that provides shoes to men, women, and children around the world. Shoes are distributed to victims of a natural disaster as well as those who are living in extreme poverty in the United States and abroad. In fact, one of the foundation’s most recent outreach efforts was for those affected by the 95-plus tornadoes reported the South and Midwest states on March 2.

“These shoes are used for disaster relief in the United States as well as Third World countries,” said Pam McLaughlin, who has kicked off a Soles4Souls Newtown shoe drive. “New, used, any size and style,” said Mrs McLaughlin. “Basically if it can go on your feet we can find a home for it.”

Residents are being asked to donate shoes of all shapes, sizes, and styles to the nonprofit organization. Mrs McLaughlin is collecting the shoes for six weeks and will personally deliver them to a distribution center in New Jersey. She is looking to distribute 12,000 pairs of shoes.

Soles4Souls receives the shoes, cleans them, and then ships them around the world. People are then able to visit the drop-off points where their feet are washed, then measured, and then they are invited to pick out a pair of shoes for themselves.

A few months ago Mrs McLaughlin attended an event hosted by Prima Royale, the company her husband Pat works for. The McLaughlins were in Los Angeles for the event, which also included executives from DSW, YouTube, and Soles4Soles.

Prima Royale and DSW were giving away a lot of shoes during the event, Mrs McLaughlin said, and Soles4Soles was the recipient of many of those shoes. By the time she returned to Newtown, something had clicked with Mrs McLaughlin, who admits she can afford to give away more than a few of the pairs of shoes in her closet.

“With a husband in the footwear industry, I’ll be donating probably 20 pairs myself,” she said last week. “I have a daughter in Brattleboro, Vermont, a sister in Minnesota, a cousin in Cincinnati, and a friend in Florida who have all promised to clean out their closets. They’re coming in from all over.”

Athletic shoes, dress shoes, boots, flip flops… as long as they are in wearable condition, Soles4Souls wants them.

“Women have already said to me, ‘But I have heels, can they be donated?’ and the answer is definitely Yes,” said Mrs McLaughlin. “Shelters help women who are trying to get back into the work place, so we really can use all the shoes we receive.”

According to information provided by the Nashville, Tenn.-based company, it was while Soles4Souls Founder Wayne Elsey was watching television one night following the 2004 tsunami that hit southeast Asia that the idea for the charity came to him. Mr Elsey was watching a news report and “he saw a picture of a single shoe washing up on the beach. That triggered a few calls to some executives in the footwear industry and the subsequent donation of a quarter of a million shoes to victims in the devastated countries,” the materials note. The same industry friends were relied upon following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and the organization has not slowed down since.

In addition to collections done by individuals, Soles4Soles receives large donations from footwear companies, retailers, churches and nonprofit ministries, civic groups and schools.

Financial donations are accepted and would normally help cover the cost of shipping, but Mrs McLaughlin is going to make donations go even further. She plans to drive to the Soles4Soles distribution center New Jersey a few times each year in order to personally deliver the shoes collected in Newtown. Financial donations from Newtown residents will go directly to Soles4Souls, who uses such donations to provide another pair of shoes to someone else who needs them.

“On average, it costs $1 to ship each pair of shoes. Anyone who wants to make a financial donation is welcome to also do so,” she said. “Every dollar donated means another pair of shoes will be donated by Soles4Souls.”

Soles4Souls has distributed shoes in more than 127 countries on five continents, including the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Swaziland, Uganda, and elsewhere. With more than 15 million pairs of shoes given out in its five-year history, Soles4Souls figures it has now delivered a pair of shoes to someone every seven seconds since its launch.

(Soles4Souls has two additional divisions, Clothes4Souls and Hope4Souls, which provides similar relief and support through clothing and donations of everything from seeds and toys to building materials and furniture.)

The best thing about the shoe drive, says Mrs McLaughlin, is that while financial donations are welcomed, they are not pushed.

“The great thing is, everyone can participate in this,” she said. “It doesn’t require time or money, just some shoes that are no longer used. In a tough economy, that’s even better.”

Not only that, but shoes that are donated are no longer sitting in someone’s closet. Even better, they are not headed for a landfill where they will join generations of shoes that have already been discarded and are in various states of breaking down. Last year alone, Americans reportedly discarded more than 300 million pairs of shoes.

Mrs McLaughlin spent time this week setting boxes up at nine locations around town where the public can stop in and drop off shoes. Drop-off locations are at Hawley Elementary School, Head O’ Meadow School, Masonicare at Newtown, Middle Gate School, The Newtown Bee’s office, Newtown Middle School, Newtown Youth Academy, Reed Intermediate School, and Sandy Hook School. In addition to these locations, the McLaughlin home at 11 Reservoir Road is also serving as a drop-off point.

The first shoe drive will run until May 15. Residents, churches, organizations, and companies interesting in donating are invited to contact Mrs McLaughlin at 203-364-0615 or pammac2324@aol.com or Carol Zimmerman at 203-220-8573 or the5zs@aol.com. The women are willing to arrange pickups for large donations.

Plenty of information about Soles4Souls is available on its website, www.Soles4Souls.org. Through the website the company is also able to offer tax receipts for anyone who would like one in return for their contribution.