Category: Impact Stories

Serving the Underserved

While serving those in need of immediate relief will always be a fundamental part of our impact, creating sustainable employment opportunities for people in need is essential to finding a long-term solution to poverty. Soles4Souls has direct micro-enterprise operations in Haiti, Honduras, Transnistria and Sierra Leone, and we have witnessed firsthand the positive impact our […]

Pam and Claire Baker Receive Michele James Volunteer of the Year Award

Here at Soles4Souls, it is impossible to talk about our impact without acknowledging the fundamental engine that keeps our organization running. The force that propels us forward and allows Soles4Souls to continue creating opportunity, serving those in need and protecting the environment. The people who inspire our team and overall mission day in and day […]

Help Provide Their Perfect Pair

If you’ve had a child in your life, you’ve likely heard the all too familiar, “I don’t want to go to school today”. (Kudos if you haven’t!) After all, leaving the comfort of a warm bed to practice multiplication tables isn’t always that appealing. But when finishing grade school isn’t a responsibility, but a privilege, […]

How Zappos and Allbirds are Helping Soles4Souls Turn Trash into Opportunity

Here at Soles4Souls we are committed to not only fighting poverty, but also protecting the environment. A troubling amount of textiles go to waste every day and end up in the trash. In fact, the EPA states that only 15% of clothing and footwear in the U.S. is recycled. That means that 85% of discarded […]

It’s More Than a Pair of Shoes

Puerto Rico is a complicated place. Of course, there’s its relationship with the United States. A territory for more than 100 years, it’s undoubtedly a part of the country and its people citizens like any other. But it’s also not a state, which stirs up certain unique issues. The fact that it’s an island disconnected […]

Full Circle

From receiving to giving, the Brown family shares a full circle moment with Soles4Souls! One of the most rewarding things about our work at Soles4Souls is meeting the people who benefit from the generosity of our donors, volunteers and supporters. Each of them represents an amazing story of strength and perseverance in the face of […]

A Full Circle Moment in Transnistria

Lena Ahremtseva was raised in a Transnistrian orphanage with 200 other children from birth through the age of 16.   “Our days were all alike,” said Lena. “We would wake up, go to classes held there, and then we had free time for a couple of hours, but we could not leave the grounds. Then […]

World Refugee Day

In the sixty seconds it will take you to read this, 20 more people will leave their homes to escape war, persecution or terror.   Soles4Souls joins in celebrating World Refugee Day for the more than 68 million people displaced by violence. Refugees are among the most vulnerable groups in the world. Access to shoes […]

Helping is Healing

Distributing shoes to some of the world’s poorest communities is impactful in many ways. There’s of course, the gift itself, which keeps children healthy and in school. But just like pebbles dropped in still water create waves well beyond their point of impact, the people who come together to make them possible produce unexpected ripples […]

Providing New Shoes, Protection and Hope at a Dump in Guatemala

Those who help us distribute the gift of shoes around the world work hard to understand the concept of “extreme poverty”. But nothing can prepare them to face the harsh realities of life on less than $1.90/day. In places like Chiquimula, Guatemala, these realities can include surviving in a makeshift community atop the city dump. […]