By Hannah Lathen
Photos by Hannah Lathen/The Collegian
South Campus’ kinesiology student organization is collecting new and slightly used shoes through November for Soles4Souls, a nonprofit charity that distributes shoes to people in need and aims to fight poverty.
Health and physical education instructor Staci Smith says Soles4Souls not only provides shoes for third-world countries or for disaster relief but also works to help women become successful.
“It’s even used to empower women because it sets up entrepreneurships for women in other countries,” she said. “They will let a woman sell the shoes or take the profits from the sale of shoes to build their own business.”
Smith says she brought the idea to the group because she wanted them to take part in something bigger than South.
“My husband volunteered in Haiti, and when he came home, he basically said, ‘If they had shoes, the shoes that they did wear were made from tires from vehicles,’” she said. “I kind of just stuck that in my head, and when I first heard of Soles4Souls, I looked it up.”
Smith hopes allowing the campus to give back will also bring awareness to the club.
“I want the organization itself to get known around campus as being active,” she said, “not just active for themselves but active for others.”
People can leave their shoes in a donation box in the SHPE gym. Tennis shoes need to be tied together and all other shoes need to be bound together. Donors can receive a receipt at soles4souls.org.
