My local group of organizers
(North Bay Organizers and Coaches-NBOC) is collecting shoes in connection with the non-profit
Soles4Souls (they take shoes to people around the world who need them). We already have well over 500 pairs, and our goal is 5,000! Luckily, one of our members (the drive coordinator,
Teri Mendelson) has a barn to hold all these gently used shoes. (That's
Jillian Stocks there helping her and Teri at the controls.)
Soles4Souls threw down the gauntlet at our
NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) 2011 conference earlier this year. They want us (as a national group) to collect over a million pairs of shoes!
The kicker here (pun intended) is that while collecting shoes is relatively easy, shipping them is not. Our clients are happy to give them up when we are helping to purge closets, and many folks have donated at the bins we have placed at Sole Desire and Fleet Feet locations. (See the list of drop off sites on the
NBOC web page.)
Sole Desire is offering a $10 off coupon for every
pair donated through October 31 at one of their stores.
The NBOC will keep up the shoe drive through the end of the year. You can donate directly to any of us in the NBOC or at bins we will keep up through Sonoma County until December 31, 2011.
We are asking our clients/friends/family and anyone with a charitable bent to help us with the cost of shipping these shoes to the Las Vegas warehouse (about $1/pair). You can do this safely and securely online at the
NBOC Soles4Soles donation page. The nice thing about this is that you can also make your donation in the memory of someone who has passed away or in honor of someone in your life.
I donated in memory of my dad, Hal Pearson, who passed away in 2003. He grew up in the Depression a poor Kansas farm boy, orphaned at a young age. I'm betting he went barefoot a good portion of his life. He made sure I never did. He also dedicated his life to teaching, and his last 20 years were spent at schools in the "rougher" parts of town with kids at a distinct disadvantage in life.
Who would you like to honor?
