When the North Allegheny Cross Country season ended earlier this month, there was still one more finish line to cross — the annual Soles4Souls service project.
“Soles4Souls is a nonprofit that receives shoe and clothing donations and distributes items to various programs around the world to help those in need,” stated NASH senior Kendall Lucas, who, along with Jack Bertram, was in charge of the fall donation drive.
Throughout the month of October and the first week of November, NASH students and staff were invited to help by bringing in their old and used shoes they are no longer using.
But one student harnessed the power of social media to reach out to communities across Allegheny County.
“I thought of mentioning the shoe drive on a community Facebook page, and so many people ended up contributing shoes,” Tyler Griffin, a NASH junior, said.
Griffin reached out to many people in the area, informing them about the donation drive and asking them to bring shoes to his house. He collected the shoes and brought them into NASH for the shoe drive.
“I have been collecting shoes all month,” he explained. “I turned in 30 pairs of shoes earlier this month and then decided to bring the rest of them in at the same time when I was finished collecting. I dropped off 352 pairs of shoes after school. So, in total, that’s 382 pairs of shoes.”
All of these shoes accumulated over the month will go to those in need.
“The shoes we receive are given a second life in one of two main ways,” Lucas said. “They are either given directly to a person in need, or they are given to shops in impoverished countries in an effort to boost local economies.”
Griffin’s contribution was enormous, but so too was the collective effort of the NASH community.
“Our total number, as of now, is 4,625 pairs,” Lucas stated earlier this week.
Though the drive has officially ended, Lucas and Bertram are happily accepting late donations. Currently, the two seniors are expecting a total to be around 4,800 pairs of shoes. With all the donations received, many lives of those in need will be touched. It is certainly a victory for the team and NASH alone.
“Jack and I are just so happy to be associated with this great group of kids and glad to be given this opportunity,” Lucas said.
The two organizers said that anyone interested in making a late donation can reach out to either of them.
