On July 8th, 2021, GTVA Members Ally Negulescu (3 hrs) , Adora Xiao (2.5 hrs), and Shania Jin (2 hrs) successfully conducted their very first shoe drive along with a tour at the Soles 4 Souls Riverside location!
Starting from a few weeks ago, AYLUS members started gathering shoes from their family, friends, and neighbors to donate to the Soles 4 Souls organization. The Nashville-based organization collects two types of donations. The first is from volunteers like us, who donate worn/gently used shoes. These shoes are then given to entrepreneurs in poverty to be sold, allowing them to earn a living and hopefully break the cycle of poverty. The Riverside location that we visited ships out approximately one container of used shoes per month, containing 25,000 shoes. The second type of donation is from corporate donors. These donors donate extras and returns, getting tax write-offs as well as a sustainable presentation to customers. These shoes are donated to be worn and are grouped based on quality.
For our first Shoe Drive, we raised a total of 115 pairs of shoes all together and dropped off our shoes at the Soles 4 Souls at their Riverside Collection Center. There, the head manager (Joel Roberts) of the location educated our tiny minds and expanded our knowledge about shoe statistics/the impact that shoes have on others.
After watching a really cool video describing the organization’s mission and impact to the world, the team took a backstage tour inside of the warehouse. There, we saw many volunteers packing together and getting ready to ship new shoes. We also saw a lot of different crates with different shoes all sorted out by the quality that they’re in.
We look forward to conducting more shoe drives in the future!
