Growing Up With Soles4Souls

For some families, collecting shoes is simply routine. For the Moore family, service and helping others is instilled in their kids.

“We have always been a very philanthropic family and enjoy doing service projects and helping others. We have been working on this drive for six and a half years, so my four girls have pretty much grown up collecting shoes every week,” says mother Melanie Moore. 

Melanie is a Soles4Souls volunteer coordinator for a drop-off site in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the last several years, she and her family have collected over 100,000 pairs and continue to do more, even as their methods have had to change during the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon, Soles4Souls will be picking up another 12,000 pairs collected by the family. 

“I thought donations would drop off, but they have actually increased because everyone seems to be spring cleaning and decluttering. We decided to allow porch drop-offs of shoes in garbage bags to follow the social-distancing policies in our state and we will move them to the storage unit when we are permitted,” says Melanie.

The family says they’ve witnessed their community bond through this process, whether it’s supporting local businesses and restaurants, fitness challenges or sharing positive messages. And as far as collecting shoes goes, it’s no different. 

Melanie’s four daughters, Lyndsi, Sydni, Alexi and Kelsi are all teenagers now, but Soles4Souls has been a constant ongoing project during their childhood.

“[We’ve learned] how supportive people are and how much they want to help others, they just don’t know how to help. When we ask for shoes, people jump at the chance to do their part. We have also learned what an amazing service project shoe drives are for children to get behind–  they can easily understand the need and jump at the chance to help,” says Melanie.

To see how you can play your part while social distancing, visit: https://soles4souls.org/4theplanet/