You walk with them, run with them, strut with them, and eventually throw them out. Instead of wasting away in a landfill, those shoes can be donated to help those who cannot afford to buy them. 

Soles 4 Souls is a non-profit charitable organization that collects shoes and various clothing items and gives them to people in underdeveloped countries. This month, Jennifer Schmitz, English teacher, is collecting shoes in her room, D217, to donate to this cause.

“I think donating, especially if you have items that you’re not using and somebody else can actually make use of, saves people from throwing things out, so it’s helping the environment and you’re helping people, too,” Schmitz said. “It’s also not a big time commitment.”

Soles 4 Souls not only donates shoes for personal use, but the organization also helps establish an income for the families in need.

“I like Soles 4 Souls because they help with people who need shoes directly and in crisis areas, but also business start up for people in developing countries,” Schmitz said. “They’ll give some shoes to somebody that wants to start a shoe store, so that gives them the capitol to start a business by selling these shoes in an area where they would never have the resources to start the business on their own.”

If people do not have extra shoes lying around the house, they can still help out with other aspects of Soles 4 Souls, Schmitz said.
“This year, [Soles 4 Souls] don’t have a drop off site in Illinois, so we need to ship all of the shoes to an offsite location,” Schmitz said. “It’s expensive, too. It’s like $10 for a box of ten shoes, so we need to raise money to ship everything, so people can donate money to help send the boxes.”