Imagine those old shoes of yours — the ones that have been collecting dust in the back of your closet — finding their way within the next few months to an open marketplace in Haiti.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta are currently holding a shoe drive, in which the donated goods will turn into profit for the local organizations and also help underprivileged families in developing countries support themselves. Participating clubs include Greenwood, Grenada and Yazoo City. The shoe drive will be held until July 31.
After the shoes are collected, they will be sent to Funds2Orgs, a Florida-based company that helps nonprofits raise money by collecting used shoes.
The Greenwood Boys & Girls Club will be paid for the number of pairs of shoes it collects. Then the donated footwear will be distributed throughout the Funds2Orgs network of microenterprise partners in developing nations.
The shoes help support and sustain ventures by low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries. Locals in places such as Haiti, Honduras and other nations in Central America and Africa create markets for salvaged goods. For instance, a microenterprise could be a table filled with shoes — the ones donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta — to be sold. Money from the sale of the shoes at the markets will be used to feed, clothe and house families in need.
The proceeds from the shoe drive received by the Boys & Girls Club from Funds2Orgs will go toward summer programming.
Deloris Davis, unit director of the Greenwood Boys & Girls Club, said that since the start of June an average of 85 children have been attending the club each day.
“We rely on donations, grant money and fundraising to keep our club going,” said Davis. “The funds from the shoe drive will be used to help our club, our kids and to provide more activities.”
Each pair of shoes donated should be bound together with a rubber band, and all pairs donated should be placed in a bag. The Boys & Girls Club, which will serve as the drop-off location for the shoes, will provide bags and rubber bands for those who want to discard their old shoes.
The Yazoo City chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta first started participating in the Funds2Orgs shoe drive.
From September 2014 to March, the Yazoo City club was able to raise $1,000 — 100 bags, each containing 25 pairs of shoes.
The fundraising effort picked up steam in Yazoo City when a local school, Manchester Academy, began donating shoes as a community service project, said June Crow, director of finance for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta.
“They students really got involved,” Crow said. “It turned into a competition between the 10th-grade class and juniors to see who could bring in the most shoes.”
Shoes can be worn, used or new, and all sizes will be accepted. The Greenwood Boys & Girls Club is located at 1740 Carrollton Ave.
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
