Other people use their garages for housing vehicles, storing tools, maybe even as venues for semi-open socially distanced small gatherings. The Shieh family’s garage in home Bowie, Maryland, lately is home to lots and lots of shoes.
Hundreds of used shoes in clear plastic bags, each holding 25 pairs, await their second life in developing nations, as part of 16-year-old Lauren Shieh’s service project for Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg, Maryland. (And yes, they’ll take your gently worn shoes off your hands for a few more weeks. Find the details at the bottom.)
At last count, the Seton sophomore had accumulated around 400 pairs of shoes, donated by her neighbors, friends and strangers, some collected through the school’s Vincentian Service Club to which Shieh belongs. She hopes to gather at least 600 pairs by the time the project is due to end April 7.
Shieh and the Vincentian Club are working with Funds2Orgs, a Florida-based company organized as something called a social enterprise.
“Whatever we collect, they sell to microbusinesses in developing countries,” Shieh explained. The microenterprise owners support themselves by buying the shoes at very low cost and reselling them at small shops, market stalls or from the street. In exchange for collecting and sorting the shoes, Funds2Orgs pays nonprofits a per-pound rate, in Seton’s case, 40 cents a pound.
It’s a new program for Seton, said the club’s adviser and the school’s service learning coordinator, Laura Tarnosky. She made sure to thoroughly vet Funds2Orgs with the school’s chief accountant and its president, Sister Ellen Marie Hagar of the Daughters of Charity, both having a hand in checking it out. She said there was some initial skepticism about the company’s for-profit business model, which the administrators’ research resolved.
“We felt like the work they’re doing is beautiful,” Tarnosky said. “The countries where they work have such a need for means of employment.”
A photo from the Funds2Org website shows a man in Haiti selling donated shoes supplied by that organization. The program provides low-cost shoes for people to buy in poor countries and supports people working in businesses there. (Funds2Org photo)
The idea for collecting shoes was Shieh’s, initially as she researched projects for her Girl Scout Gold Award. “It didn’t meet the criteria for the Gold Award,” she said, but she really liked the idea of gathering shoes for less fortunate people. She started by pairing a shoe drive with Seton’s annual Friends of the Poor Walk, and did the research to find an organization that would take and repurpose any shoes collected.
After that fairly minimal effort in September collected about 100 pairs of shoes, “I saw how successful it could be and thought it could keep going,” she said.
“I’m pretty excited,” Shieh said. “I didn’t think it would get this much attention, and I’m really happy to help people in a developing country.”
Tarnosky said collecting household items for people in need is routine for the Vincentian Club, which has connections to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Food, coats, warm hats and gloves are collected frequently, she said. Members also regularly help with meals at Martha’s Table and volunteer for Happy Helpers for the Homeless and other organizations.
Kristy Fontelera, vice president for marketing at Funds2Orgs, said the company works in 26 countries, with the participation of thousands of nonprofits each year. The company is a part of Elsey Enterprises, founded by philanthropist and entrepreneur Wayne Elsey. After a career with Stride Rite Shoes, Elsey initially started a nonprofit to connect donors of new shoes from manufacturers and retailers to people in need around the world. Eventually Elsey evolved the shoe donation concept in favor of one that helps microenterprises – typically one-person businesses – in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Shieh, her family and other members of the Vincentian Club sort through the donated shoes to make sure they’re usable and that they are tied or clipped in pairs before bagging them. Funds2Orgs will send a truck to collect the bags in May. Shieh said she’s had to throw out about one bagful of unusable shoes so far.
Others appeared to be brand new, with hardly any wear, she said. Out of all the footwear she’s sorted so far, the shoes the tickled her fancy? A pair of children’s cowboy boots.
Lauren Shieh, a student at Elizabeth Seton High School, carries a bag of donated shoes. In the photo below, she puts a pair of shoes in a bag. She and fellow students have collected 400 pairs of shoes so far. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
Shoes may be dropped off by April 7 at Elizabeth Seton High School, 5715 Emerson Street, Bladensburg, Maryland, from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. school days.
Shieh created a Google form to request pickup of shoes, https://bit.ly/3aiAhOx, but she can’t guarantee her family and other Seton volunteers will be able to pick up donations.
Donated shoes should be clean and in good condition, without holes or tears. But most any kind of shoe is welcome: sneakers, boots, flip-flops, dress shoes, sports cleats etc., for adults or children. For further information, email to 2021shoedrive@gmail.com
