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During December our Earth Scouts group participated in a service project of collecting shoes for Share Your Soles. You might think–why shoes? To be honest, I never really thought about the importance of shoes, but after learning more about this organization and exploring this issue, I now see how very valuable shoes can be–sometimes even life-saving. Share Your Soles is a local, non-profit organization that was started up by one woman after a trip to Central America where she saw many children without shoes and learned about the issues that arise because of the lack of shoes. Here’s a short video that sheds some light onto the situation:

At our meeting in December the kids decorated a big drop box to be left at the library where we meet, and then went out and left notes and bags at area houses asking for new and gently used shoe donations to be brought in. It was wonderful to see how eager the kids were to deliver the notes to the neighbors and arrange the shoe drive.  Earth Scouts canvas the neighborhoodIn addition to leaving notes for area residents, the kids also collected shoes from their family, friends, and their own homes.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous coming back to the library to see how many shoes would be in the drop box (this probably stemmed from the fact that when we did a food drive a few months back in our own neighborhood we only received food from 10% of the houses that we left notes at). But, when we arrived in the lobby of the library, I was happily surprised to find that the drop box was filled to the rim with shoes.  Shoes save lives!It was awesome to see, and even more awesome was hearing my son express such gratitude for all the shoes!

This full box, along with all the shoes that the kids brought in from home resulted in a huge pile of shoes–so many shoes that we needed two cars to take them home from the library! I was so proud of all the hard work the kids did. And it was wonderful to see how happy and proud the kids were of themselves, knowing that they were making a big difference in the lives of many people.

Tags:   earth scouts · learning · photos · service-learning · social responsibility · volunteering37264 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwriting101.net%2F2011%2F01%2F12%2Fearth-scouts-saving-soles-saving-lives%2Fearth+scouts%3A+saving+soles%2C+saving+lives2011-01-12+08%3A39%3A12Christinehttp%3A%2F%2Fwriting101.net%2F%3Fp%3D3726