Boxes and boxes of shoes were piled in Dario Gouveia’s garage; they got sorted and paired up by Sole2Sole volunteers just in time for an upcoming ‘Street Store’.
South Africa (06 May 2024) – Sole2Sole volunteers have earned buckets of praise from Zita Gouveia, Dario Gouveia’s mom, who reached out to share that a group of volunteers had gone above and beyond to pair up and clean 1,500 pairs of donated shoes.
Dario founded Sole2Sole in 2017 after seeing a child on the street with no shoes and sore-looking feet. He wondered how many other children were suffering this way, so he started collecting shoes to give to children in need. Between himself and his sister Liana, they started the cause with 14 pairs of shoes and went from there. In the years that have followed, they have hit many milestones. In May of 2022, that number crossed the 185,000 mark!
During a recent sorting weekend, a group of teen volunteers showed up to help Dario and Liana sort through a massive donation of 1,500 shoes. Zita described their hard work as nothing short of awe-inspiring! Many of the shoes needed to find their pairs and some needed a good cleaning before being added to the donation pile.
“A Volunteer doesn’t have the time… They have the HEART”
A Friday night of sorting through over 1500 pairs of shoes. We never thought we would get through them all.. but we did. I cannot begin to tell you how much we appreciate all the hands we get.
Sorting through shoes is a mammoth task. It comes with not only quality control, as we cannot give the homeless shoddy, broken shoes, but the task of pairing the shoes up is unglamorous, tedious and takes a toll on ones back.
A shout out to our volunteers who showed up yesterday to make a difference. We appreciate you! Thank you!
The massive donation is heading to a local “street store” where the underprivileged can have a dignified “shopping” experience, choosing items of clothing for their preference versus getting a handout and just living with it. When they say “beggar’s can’t be choosers”, a street store voids that saying and gives people the dignity of choice!
If you would like to find out more about Sole2Sole and how they work with shoe donations, you can check out the Facebook page here.