When I found out Buckner was taking a mission trip to Peru, for some reason I just knew that was where I was supposed to be. I had never been on a mission trip to a foreign country, let alone by myself. I feel so blessed that I did though, because I had to put complete trust in knowing that I was in His hands.

Fortunately, that was what the VBS story centered on at the homes we visited, so I felt especially sincere in the message we were sending to the kids. We were there to not only provide the children with the material support, but also emotional support, never letting them forget about God’s love for them. Read More

The five first grade classes at Mockingbird Elementary School in Coppell, Texas, held a school-wide shoe drive at the end of 2011 as a project-based learning experience. They made public service announcements at school, created posters to advertise, and counted, sorted and graphed the 168 pairs of shoes and 402 pairs of socks they collected.

When their drive ended, all five classes took a field trip to the Shoes for Orphan Souls warehouse to see where their shoes would go and to learn how to process shoes for shipment. They learned a lot and had plenty to say about their experience:

What was the most interesting thing you learned when you volunteered at the warehouse?

“The most interesting thing I learned was how many people in our world need shoes. The warehouse was so big and there were LOTS of shoes!” Asher Johnson, Mrs. Taylor’s class

“That so many kids and grownups don’t have clothes.”  Dalai Biju, Mrs. Sumrall’s class Read More

By Lauren Hollon Sturdy
Buckner International

Haven Godwin is a dancer, a gymnast, a swimmer and a cyclist. She’s also a budding philanthropist who decided to forego gifts for her 7th birthday this year to collect shoes for orphans and vulnerable children.

She’s a determined girl who knows what she wants. When she saw a TV segment about a girl who collected 300 shoes for orphans for her birthday, she knew she had to do the same thing. She learned about the Shoes for Orphan Souls Birthday Club and sat down and wrote a letter about her birthday wish. With the help of her mother, Mary, Haven typed her letter, made copies and took it to school and church to pass out to all her friends:

Hello. My name is Haven Godwin. I am 6 years old. I want my birthday wish to come true. Please send a new pair of shoes so that I can collect them and send them to the orphanage. These kids only get one pair of shoes a year. Read More

By Lauren Hollon Sturdy
Buckner International

TYLER, Texas—Despite his age, Zack Lawson sounds as professional and polished as if he’s been in the “real world” for years. He’s been dealing with school administrations, tax forms and presentations a lot lately, which could have something to do with the 17-year-old’s mature demeanor.

Lawson recently wrapped up a 10-school shoe drive, a project that took eight months from inception to completion.  The drive fulfilled one of his requirements for the International Baccalaureate Programme, a college preparatory program for high school students that stresses global understanding and community service. Shoes for Orphan Souls appealed to Lawson as the focus for his service project because it benefits children and has a global reach.

When he looked into ways others had conducted shoe drives, he realized a citywide drive or one involving local radio stations was probably out of reach. But his dad worked in a local elementary school and Lawson knew they were working on rallying around service through Rachel’s Challenge, focusing on teaching the kids kindness and compassion through service.

He thought Shoes for Orphan Souls would go over well in schools because the focus is children, and it meshed perfectly with the themes of kindness, compassion and generosity that schools were already emphasizing.

“It would give the schools a tangible rallying point for this idea of Rachel’s Challenge,” he said.

He presented the project to the elementary school counselors at one of their monthly meetings. They all loved it. Read More

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was taken from an Oct. 23 post on the DiRuggiero family’s travel blog.

We have just completed our last full day of shoe ministry in Oaxaca, Mexico.  Our “Shoes For Orphan Souls” mission team (30 of us from Georgia, Tenn., and Illinois) have cleaned and adorned nearly 800 pairs of little feet with new socks and shoes. 

Working with abandoned children collected from the city streets, poor kids in mountain-side villages and orphans in private and government facilities, we have touched, hugged and tickled children that God has not forgotten and sent us to show his love. Read More