Tuesday, May 26th, 2015
Local effort makes strides in providing shoes to poor
By David Giesige
Photo by David Giesige/The Daily Standard
Innergy Fitness co-owners Deanna Davis, left, and Kristy Long donate to the Shoes for HOPE shoe drive. The business is one of many accepting donations as part of the Coldwater and Celina Kiwanis clubs' shoe drive.
COLDWATER - A pair of local civic groups are stepping up to fight a serious global health problem.
Three billion people cannot afford to buy shoes. Without shoes, many of those people are vulnerable to a variety of potentially life-threatening parasites and diseases. Members of the Coldwater and Celina Kiwanis clubs are joining an effort to overcome that threat.
The clubs are taking part in a nationwide shoe drive called Shoes for HOPE, which stands for Helping Other People Excel. Missions in Motion, an international ministry based in Hamilton, started the drive, which collects any size and kind of footwear.
Coldwater Kiwanis member John Yoder said the club has been accepting donations throughout May and has collected 2,000 pairs of shoes.
"(The clubs') goal is to have 2,500 pairs by the end of May when we will send our first shipment of shoes," Yoder said. "But we will be accepting donations throughout the summer for another shipment around August."
The shoes will be sent to Missions in Motion, which will ship them to developing nations such as Haiti, Honduras and Jamaica, Yoder said. Missions in Motion hopes to collect more than 2.5 million pairs of shoes nationwide this year.
The Kiwanis clubs have drop-off locations at Innergy Fitness, Chief supermarket and Edward Jones in Coldwater, and Deluxe Dry Cleaners, the YMCA, The Gardens at Celina, CJ's Highmarks and the Mercer County District Public Library in Celina.
The response has been phenomenal, he said.
"We were working with the Mad Run 5K in Fort Recovery that just took place, and at the end of the race, runners would take off their dirty shoes and donate them to us," Yoder said. "We collected over 250 pairs of shoes on that day alone."
The shoes will be cleaned and dried before being shipped, he said, and while the shoes might be a little worn, they still are much appreciated.
"Any shoes are better than no shoes. Some of these people are taping water bottles to their feet or just going barefoot. Getting these people shoes is important because their safety is at risk. People die every day from diseases contracted by not wearing shoes," he said.
For Innergy Fitness co-owners Deanna Davis and Kristy Long, participating was "a no-brainer."
"As a fitness center, we are a great place to reach out to others," Davis said.
"We have a lot of members who are runners and runners go through two or three pairs of shoes a year," Long said. "And while those shoes might not be good enough for the runners anymore, they are still in pretty good shape."
So far, 370 pairs have been collected at Innergy and the owners hope to see that total grow. "We've been wanting to do something like this for a long time. When we heard about it from some of our gym members who are in Kiwanis, we volunteered to help right away," Davis said.
Davis has donated a pair of shoes but Long has not - yet.
"I'm definitely planning on it, I just have to clean out my closet first," Long said.
The Shoes for HOPE drive will also benefit the Kiwanis clubs. For every pound of shoes they collect, Missions in Motion will give the clubs 10 cents.
Boots, sandals, sneakers, slippers and even high heels are accepted, because recipients "cut the high heels off and wear them like normal shoes," Yoder said.
Shoes do not need to be in a pair to be donated.
Photo by David Giesige/The Daily Standard
Shoes donated by participants of the recent Mad Run 5K in Fort Recovery fill a pickup truck's bed. The shoes were donated to the Coldwater and Celina Kiwanis clubs, which are participating in a nationwide shoe drive for developing nations.
