A Charity For The Heart and The Sole

In life, sometimes the path we thought we would go down changes into a path we were destined to go down, and when this happens, we can find our true purpose in life. I discovered this first-hand when I stumbled upon a need, started a charity, and dedicated my life to helping kids.

In December 2018, while I was talking with a friend in the Philippines, I noticed her nieces and nephews were playing outside without shoes. Not thinking anything of it I made a comment about their lack of shoes. My friend, Abegail, then informed me that like her nieces and nephews many children couldn’t afford shoes. I knew parts of the Philippines were very poor, but I was still confused on why shoes were hard to get for the kids. She told me how little an average family makes every month in the Philippines, and how most of that money goes to food and shelter. Without a lot of money shoes were a luxury most families couldn’t afford. I asked her if the kids running around on their bare feet caused any problems for them, and her answer broke my heart.

We, as humans on this earth, have a terrible habit of discarding trash everywhere. This trash ends up in our oceans, in our streets, and even ends up in places children play. This trash can be as simple as bags and paper that can cause serious damage to the wildlife that inhabit this planet, or it can be even more sinister like broken glass or needles. Broken glass or needles discarded either carelessly by a trash can, or just thrown out a window, can easily end up in the streets. When it rains this trash can be washed away ending up almost anywhere. It can end up at the beach, or under the water right past our line of site. It can end up hidden in a grassy field, or even end up on a playground with children nearby. Because we live in a world where we discard our trash almost anywhere, broken bottles, needles, or other sharp objects end up right under our children's feet. Now this might not be as much of a problem if you live in an area where most of the children own multiple pairs of shoes, but when you live in a place like the Philippines this can be devastating.

As Abegail told me these things my heart broke, but what broke my heart even more was that one of her nephews, who was special needs, had an infection on his foot from stepping on a piece of glass. It’s hard enough to keep a child from playing but since he was special needs it was even more impossible, and every time he went out to play in his bare feet the infection got worse. With limited money and medical availability his parents were worried he’d lose his ability to walk. I couldn’t help but think this was such a ridiculous problem for us to have in this world.

If you’re like me, and many other people I know, we own multiple pairs of shoes. And, more times than not, I throw out my old pair of shoes way before they are even too bad to wear. In fact, even in the poorest times of my life, I almost always had a good pair of shoes I could wear. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to feel pain on the bottom of my feet every time I went outside, or decided I wanted to play. I thought it was ridiculous that this was happening, and so immediately I sought to fix it.

With the support of my family, and friends, I gathered up some money and bought all the kids in her family some shoes. Since it was almost Christmas time we bought some toys, and candies as well, and we packaged them up and sent them to the Philippines. They arrived just before the holidays, and with excitement I was able to watch the kids open their gifts live via video chat.

They started with the toys. One by one they opened the plastic dinosaurs, coloring books, and the different assortment of candies we had sent. They loved every present and were filled with joy as they opened them up together. Now I’m not sure how it is where you are from, but if you’re raised in America then you probably have witnessed American kids opening up presents filled with clothes and shoes during the holidays. Usually, this act is not filled with a lot of excitement since most children here would rather have a tablet, or video games, than clothes and shoes. However, what amazed me is this couldn’t have been father from the truth when these Filipino children opened up their shoes. Instantly there was cheering and sounds of elation. One of the girls started hugging her shoes and crying. She said she had been wishing for a pair of shoes, but never owned a pair herself. What was amazing is she was 11. Can you imagine being 11 and never having owned a pair of shoes? It was both amazing and heartbreaking all at once. I knew right then this was a bigger problem than just this family.

Over the next few months, I learned there were millions of children all over the world who didn’t have access to shoes or sandals for their feet. Children all over the world wrap plastic bottles around their feet, or make makeshift shoes from tires, or discarded trash in the hopes of protecting their feet. It crushed me to learn this, especially since most of us own at least one pair here. I knew I had to do something to help, and without even planning it a charity was born.

I started going around to my local businesses, and churches, hoping to gather funds to buy shoes for kids all over the world before I even had a name for the charity. Often people would ask me what the name of my charity was and I couldn’t tell them because I hadn’t picked out a name. I wasn’t worried about a name as much as I was worried about helping kids in need. I soon had volunteers to help me on this endeavor and after a few different choices we named the charity Heart and Soles Ministries. I spent the next few years gathering support from everyone I could, and collecting shoes everywhere I could, in order to help as many kids as possible. Whenever people would discourage me by saying “there’s too many kids to help” or “All I was doing would barely make a difference” all I could think of was a story I heard as a child.

In this story there was a child walking along a beach. Soon the child noticed thousands of starfish had washed up on the beach and were dying. One by one the child began picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. A man saw what the child was doing and approached. The man asked the child what was going on and the child answered “I’m saving the starfish”. The man laughed and said “foolish child you can’t save them all”. The child looked at the man, bent down, picked up a starfish, and threw it back into the water. “I just saved that one” the child responded. This is how I think about Heart and Soles. I know that I might not be able to help every child, and I know there is so much hardship in this world I am probably just a drop in the ocean compared to it. However, I also know that every child Heart and Soles can help is one less child hurting and that’s worth more than gold to me.

Heart and Soles Ministries has grown very rapidly over the years. We now have shoe donation boxes in over seven major locations, and are the main supplier for shoes in our area. I’ve also learned there was a need for shoes in our local communities as well so we now hand out shoes all around us. We supply shoes for dozens of homeless shelters, and clothing redistribution centers locally, and we also collect monetary donations to buy shoes overseas in countries like the Philippines. In the few short years we have been around, we have handed out almost 5000 pairs of shoes/sandals/boots to children and families in need all over, but our goal is not yet done. Heart and Soles is on a mission to be able to supply shoes for every child in need in every country around the world, and we won't stop until it’s accomplished. No child should ever have to be in pain, or be worried about being injured, simply because they don’t have protection for their feet. It seems like such a simple thing to hope for, and we are on a mission to make sure it happens.

In 2019 I took a trip to the Philippines to hand out shoes and sandals to orphanages and villages in need. What I witnessed motivated me even more! Children came from miles around to stand in line for hours with the hopes of getting protection for their feet. A 14-year-old boy begged me to give him the last pair of sandals, which were toddler sized, so he could put them on his much larger feet. When I tried to explain to him they wouldn’t fit he showed me how he could cut the straps off so at least they would protect some of his feet. I watched children sticking nails and wires up inside old sandals that were falling apart to keep them on their feet, and I saw what happened when the wire slipped through the bottom of their sandal and pierced their feet. I met a small boy who had gotten an infection from a stepping on a piece of broken glass which cut his tendon in two, and was unable to walk ever again. I saw so many horrific things that broke my heart, but also motivated me to keep going and help others. This is a huge problem in the world, and it needs to be fixed, but I also know I can’t do this alone. I need support from people like you in order to help more children and give them the protection they so desperately need.

100% of all donations go to children in need. Heart and Soles is a completely volunteer based charity and there is no payroll. My goal with Heart and Soles is to someday have specific sponsors who will support a pay-rolled staff so we can expand all over the world, but until that happens everyone, including me, works tirelessly on a voluntary basis. All the shoes we collect go back out into the communities, and all finances go to buying more footwear for the families while less than 1% go to supplying basic operating costs; tags for the shoes, newsletters, webpage, etc. We are also excited to be receiving a 501(c)3 from the government which should arrive any day, and will allow even more avenues to open up to us.

This charity was founded on the principle that every child matters. We know there are a lot of children hurting in the world today, but with the help of people like you, together we can make a difference. I hope you will join us and support us on this journey. Together We Can Make A Change.

You can locate us at

www.HeartandSolesMinistries.org

Or on Facebook at

#HeartandSolesMinistries