Author: Soles4Souls

There is No “I” in Team

There’s no I in team. This well-known phrase reminds us to come together as a team to accomplish a goal.   Our goal of breaking the cycle of poverty is universal and without borders. In the United States, one in eight Americans live in poverty. Meanwhile, 767 million people worldwide survive on less than $1.90/day.   […]

Case Study: McKennon Law Group

McKennon Law Group PC, a law firm in Newport Beach that represents policyholders in their insurance disputes with insurers, hosted a summer shoe donation drive in honor of Soles4Souls’ “Go Green” initiative.   Give Shoes Give Love Go Green is a campaign aimed at keeping shoes out of landfills and instead utilizing them to create meaningful […]

Case Study: Aaron Brown, Weichert Real Estate

Wayzata, Minnesota real estate agent Aaron Brown recently spearheaded a shoe donation drive to help those in need around the world as part of Soles4Souls.   After hearing about Soles4Souls through the NALA’s cause marketing program, Aaron Brown and the staff at Weichert, Realtors-Advantage collected over 1,500 pairs of shoes.   The secret to their […]

Help Soles4Souls Respond to Natural Disaster Victims During the Big Payback

From the blog of our president and CEO, Buddy Teaster We recently had our all-staff retreat… a time to look ahead but also look at what worked and didn’t work in the last year. As we talked through the ins and outs, I made a mistake. I forgot to mention the devastating hurricanes in Texas, […]

A Commitment to Change

Working in partnership with NicaRise, an organization in Nicaragua committed to creating sustainable economic change, Soles4Souls will begin supplying entrepreneurs with a consistent supply of high-quality, affordable shoes and clothes so that they can begin earning an income. To say that launching a new micro-enterprise operation was an easy task, however, would be deceiving.   […]

Creating Opportunity In An Invisible Land

The following story of our non-profit partner Help the Children in Transnistria and profile of Lena Ahremtseva, contains elements from the forthcoming book, Shoestrings: How Your Donated Shoes and Clothes Help People Pull Themselves Out of Poverty by Soles4Souls President and CEO Buddy Teaster AN INVISIBLE LAND Halfway around the world lies a land where nothing is as it seems. […]

Change is Possible

This past holiday season, we had three amazing families leave the comforts of their homes to celebrate the season with us in Haiti to give back through the gift of shoes. Among them were Laura and Mark Howard and their 12-year-old daughter Kaia.   The Howards and their three children live in East Tennessee, a […]

Three Women

Our first encounter with Jounise Isma couldn’t have been more powerful.   Jounise lives in Haiti. She is a part of Soles4Souls’ micro-enterprise program and has created a small business selling shoes to provide for herself and her family.   Our director of Donor Services, Kelly Modena was recently traveling in Haiti with one of our most devoted volunteers, Michele James, […]

Detroit Teen Collects 10,000 Pairs for Soles4Souls’ Ten2Give Program

A love of running and cross-country taught Detroit teen Prateek Bhola about the importance of a good pair of shoes from a young age. When a cluster of growth spurts caused an excess of unusable shoes in Prateek’s closet, the high school student realized that there are millions of people that go every single day […]

Sometimes One Word Says It All

A lot happens on our international shoe distributions. There’s the obvious process itself, of course.   Men, women and even kids from different cities, backgrounds and walks of life volunteer to give back. They load and unload bags of shoes together, sweat together, laugh and cry together, and make new friendships that last a lifetime. […]