6/02/08 National Barefoot Week
It was called Barefoot Week. But the joint venture between Kids in Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) and Soles4Souls from June 1-7 put new shoes on the feet of 325,000 children in desperate need.
Nashville-based Soles4Souls facilitates donations of footwear to aid those in need throughout the world. Since K.I.D.S. new product to needy children through its network of over 1,000 grassroots agency partners, the two charitable organizations joined forces for one week to brighten the lives of disadvantaged youths in five U.S. cities.
Soles4Souls enlisted thousands of churches, civic groups and retailers to act as collection points in the weeks prior to and during Barefoot Week. The program began on Sunday, June 1, which was designed as National Barefoot
Day, and continued throughout the week with local distribution events, walkathons, marathons, benefits, and retail in-trade events across the country.
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The 325,000 pairs of new shoes donated by Soles4Souls were distributed, on consecutive days, to needy children in Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, And Flagstaff, Arizona, near the Hopi and Navajo Indian Reservations. K.I.D.S. coordinated the distributions to partner agencies in each of the cities and helped assure that the shoes were provided to children in the greatest need.
“We are grateful to have the opportunity to team with Soles4Souls, which enjoys excellent support from leading footwear companies,” said Rick Schaub, Board chairman of K.I.D.S. “Our two organizations share a deep commitment to alleviating suffering among poor children.”
“During Barefoot Week, we sought to draw attention to the over 300 million children worldwide who have never owned a pair of shoes,” said Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. He added that Soles4Souls, which has donated more than 3 million pairs of shoes since its inception in December 2004 in hopes to conduct the program again in 2009. |
