The Future Healthcare Professionals (FHP) of LT, along with Interact club, have teamed up with the Share Your Soles Shoe Foundation to collect shoes for children struggling in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Haiti. The drive was held from Sept. 29 through Oct. 13, and donation bins were kept at the front of the school so any LT member was able to donate.

Their intention was to provide shoes to children who have to walk barefoot everyday and are at risk of contracting serious diseases and viruses through foot infections.

The creator of Share Your Soles, Mona Purdy, began visiting countries in Africa and noticed a black substance on the bottom of the children’s feet, which ended up being tar. Purdy noticed that the children living in these countries had no shoes, and some of them had never owned a pair of shoes in their entire life. Because of this, Purdy brought up an idea to start an organization that would donate shoes and send them off to countries who were low on them or didn’t have any to begin with. Interact club president Beau Brown ‘22 reached out to Purdy and asked if LT could be a part of the Share Your Soles drive.

The FHP and Interact club hope to be able to travel to the warehouse where the shoes are sorted and physically work with the donations they received, Brown said. 

“Children have to walk miles everyday just to get water,” Brown said. “A pair of shoes can help so much with that, like preventing injuries and giving comfort to them. That’s what makes it so wholesome and something I really wanted to bring to LT.”

A fellow member of the Interact club, Ella Lanspeary ‘23 thought this was a good way to get involved and make a difference in the community.

“When Beau brought this up we all thought it was a great idea,” Lanspeary said. “We wanted to be able to raise awareness about diseases transferred by foot, and push people to consider other people’s situations.”