This year, Chillicothe High School’s Rotary Interact is partnering with Chillicothe’s Rotary Club on their current project “Shoes For Orphan Souls” and would like to share some additional information with you about the project as you begin to see the project be put into action in Chillicothe.
Rotary Interact is ecstatic to partake in Shoes For Orphan Souls, the largest humanitarian project of Buckner International, which serves children both locally and all over the world. To date, Buckner International has distributed more than 4.85 million pairs of shoes and socks to children in more than 80 countries, with approximately 20% of these items staying in the United States to be distributed to impoverished kids. To do their part, Chillicothe Rotary, one of the 56 Rotary Clubs of District 6040, has supported this project for 22 years now and will be supporting the project again this year as the district strives to reach its goal of 15,199 pairs of shoes for the year, which would help them achieve a cumulative amount of 400,000 pairs of shoes over these 22 years. This year, the donated shoes have been chosen to be sent to impoverished kids in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. In many developing countries, including Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, children often have to walk barefoot in muddy, rocky terrain to attend school and perform necessary tasks such as obtaining clean water. Walking on rugged terrain, barefoot, often produces wounded and cut feet that soon become infected with parasites and diseases such as hookworm, jiggers, and tetanus. These infections can stunt a child’s growth and physical development, but can also lead to lifelong mental damage. This is where the importance of shoes really comes in; shoes can protect children from these life-threatening diseases and infections and give them a better shot at their just-beginning lives. Life for children also begins with their education, and while necessary, this becomes detrimental for many poverty-stricken families as most educational facilities require children to wear shoes to attend classes. For many families, shoes are a luxury they cannot afford, holding several children from crucial education. Studies show that higher attendance in school increases a child's chance to one day rise out of poverty and obtain a general education. In addition, new shoes demonstrate worth and love to vulnerable children, especially children being raised in orphanages. A typical orphan child is forced to share everything, commonly never having a single possession of their own; a new pair of shoes brings hope and worth to these kids and shows them they are loved and cared for.
A new pair of shoes put children on a path to health, removes the barrier to education, brings them hope, and creates opportunity, which is why it is so important Chillicothe plays its part in this project. To really do our part, Chillicothe needs to collect 272 pairs of shoes, which is why Chillicothe High School’s Rotary Interact has strategically placed seven shoe bins around the community in places of convenience for our community members. These locations include Chillicothe High School, Chillicothe Middle School, Grand River Technical School, the Sliced Bread Innovation Center, Lifepoint Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Children's Library. These bins will be monitored weekly by Rotary Interact members throughout the month of April; the project plans to conclude at the end of April when The Shoes Caravan visits Chillicothe, however, the specific date is still to be decided. The only rules to this project are preferred donations of canvas or athletic shoes, sizing from youth size 1 to adult size 9, and only new, unworn shoes can be donated as a safety and sanitary precaution to the receiving children. However, local stores like Walmart often offer low-priced or clearance shoes that are perfect for donation.
Both Rotary Interact and Chillicothe Rotary thank you for any donations you choose to
make and we hope to see you at the shoe bins throughout April!