Growing up, my parents raised my siblings and I to always be appreciative of our station in life. No matter what victories or defeats we faced, they always encouraged us to see the glass half-full versus half-empty. At times, I found this to be incredibly annoying; yet, their constant reminders have made me a better person.
With this way of thinking, our family became much stronger when life wasn’t always so sunny. I distinctly remember when our house burned down and we were not only homeless, but possession less. We lost everything – except for each other, and miraculously, our beloved pets. I can still see myself staring at the charred faces of our Cabbage Patch Kids collection and sobbing. I was convinced that all was lost until I realized that all of our clothes, shoes and furniture were gone too.
It was a very shocking ordeal for our family – yet, our parents reminded us of how lucky we were to even be alive. And, it is this way of thinking that has encouraged me to always give back to those less fortunate. It doesn’t matter who you help, or how you help – you just need to help. With that said, I was lucky enough to come across a very wonderful organization this past winter. I was looking for a way to show my own children how they could help others and stumbled across Soles4Souls.
Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes free of charge to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 10 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently donating one pair every 9 seconds.)
Oddly enough, I had a stash of their old shoes in a Tupperware upstairs. (I have a hard time of letting their baby things go.) I was so excited when I realized that their outgrown shoes could do so much good for some little kids. Right from the start, I knew that this would be a charity that we contributed to every year. I mean do you know how many pairs of shoes our children outgrow each and every year? Sadly, most of these shoes are still in almost-new condition; the kids’ feet just grow so quickly. I loved Soles4Souls even more so because it was something my children and I could do together.
That afternoon, I sat down with Tyler and Abbey and told them that we were going to do something charitable. Abbey, at a mere 1 ½ years old, had no idea what I was talking about, but Tyler, at three years old, had learned the word in pre-school, so he was pretty interested. Now, I’m not unrealistic; I don’t think they fully understood what we were doing, but I want them to know from a very young age that it is nice to help anyone who needs it. This way giving would just become a natural way of life for them.
So, we went on a “mission” throughout the house to find all of the outgrown shoes that we had lying about. Tyler and Abbey even offered up some of their newer shoes to donate, and my husband was shocked to see how many outgrown shoes he had kicking around in the back of his closet.
After we gathered all of our shoes, we took a ride into Babylon Village where we were able to drop them off at one of Soles4Souls donation locations, Rubber Sole. The kids got a huge kick out of “doing something good” and wanted to know what else they could do; we’re currently working on our next batch of shoes.
And, more than anything, it made me feel blessed that I was passing on my parents’ own beliefs onto our children: love your family fiercely, always be grateful, and whenever possible, help others.
Find out how you can help Soles4Soles here.
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