While wearing a pair of shoes may not seem like a privilege to some people, over 300 million children walk bare feet across the globe, according to the Soles4Souls nonprofit. That’s why a group of three Dragons started a local initiative to give shoes to the children that need it most.
After stumbling onto a Soles4Souls donation box last summer, Mateo Bryce and brothers Matthew and William Blount looked into the organization and was shocked to learn that millions of children didn’t have access to basic necessities like footwear. Mateo’s mother Yvonne says the boys decided to step up and lead a local effort to benefit the organization and the people they serve.
“Without shoes, kids are vulnerable to disease, cannot attend school or receive an education and feel hopeless,” Yvonne says. “They knew they wanted to do something to help, so they created a flyer and went door to door asking for donations of new and gently-used shoes.”
Their activism didn’t stop there. Yvonne says the trio partnered with youth groups at the Good Shepherd Catholic Community and gave a presentation at Carroll Middle School to solicit even more donations. Their efforts resulted in collecting over 1,500 pairs of shoes, which they’ve donated to Soles4Souls to deliver to impoverished children across the world.
But they aren’t done collecting donations just yet. Yvonne says their goal is to collect 10,000 pairs of shoes. If they succeed, then Soles4Souls will organize a whole new shoe distribution network to support another local nonprofit.
"The support and generosity of our community has been incredible," Yvonne says. "We are extremely proud of our boys. They learned the importance of giving back and using their time and talents to serve others."
If you would like to donate to Mateo, Matthew and William’s shoe drive, email YCarrero@AOL.com or JenBlount1@Yahoo.com. To learn more about Soles4Souls, visit Soles4Souls.org.