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.

As a father, it has been difficult to lie in my hotel bed each night and remember all the faces of kids who are falling asleep with no parent to tuck them into bed.  I praise God that I have experienced these days with my wife and kids.  I wouldn’t trade this past week for any amount of gold or silver. 

Pray that every shoe placed on a foot will never wear thin or fall apart. Pray that the seeds of the gospel will take root in the lives of these precious children. Pray that our family will respond to these experiences with humbleness before God and a desire to know Him more deeply.

Douglas and Karen DiRuggiero and their children, Ben, Kate and Margaret, are spending this school year traveling the world for a month at a time engaging in mission work as a family. They went to Oaxaca, Mexico, on a mission trip with Shoes for Orphan Souls Oct. 15-22.  Read about their travels on their blog at http://onecrazyyear.tumblr.com/.

By Sarah Whitman
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, October 2, 2011

Listeners know her as Carmen, the cheerful female voice of the Morning Cruise on the Joy FM, 91.5 in Tampa. For nearly a decade, she has chatted with and about top Christian music artists on air from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays. In some church circles, she is a celebrity.

To orphans 1,000 miles away, she is a stranger with a gift.

Carmen Brown, of New Tampa, recently returned from Honduras, where she spent a week delivering more than 8,000 pairs of shoes, donated by listeners, to children in need. It is her fourth year traveling with Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls ministry.

Trip one, she went alone to Guatemala. Trips two and three, she brought a few fans and friends to Peru and Guatemala. This year, about 100 people applied to go along, and 32 made the journey to Honduras.

Times staff writer Sarah Whitman spoke with Brown, 40, about transforming listeners of WLPJ-FM 91.5 into missionaries and seeing the world with new eyes.

Is there a readjustment period returning home from a trip like this?

There is definitely a re-entry period. I came back exhausted, slept 14 hours and cried, literally, for the next two days. I cried for the children there, and I cried for our kids, too. There is so much wealth in this country. They don’t even know they need Jesus.

Why do this? What made you decide to take that first trip?

I was having a casual (off-air) conversation with one of our artists and he told me about this organization he was working with, Buckner International. He said, “You’re going on this trip.” And I went. And I saw. And no amount of pictures can paint that picture.

I grew up in government housing on food stamps, and I thought I knew poverty. Then, I saw true poverty. These kids don’t even have shoes.

One of the first little girls, I put socks on her feet and handed her another pair. She said, “Dos?” She was so grateful. And I’m thinking, my kids lose socks in the dryer.

What is it like leaving the day-to-day behind?

It’s time to unplug. Sometimes your cell phone works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Going to the orphanages, being with the kids, it brings you back to the basics of humanity.

How do you bring what you do to the orphans?

They know what radio is, but they don’t have radios. The last three years the band, Mike’s Chair, has come with us. They play songs, and you can really see the healing power of the music.

People have this romanticized idea about orphans, and a lot of times with the younger kids it’s that way. They hug on you and are so happy you’re there. But when you go into a girls’ home where the girls are 12 to 18 years old and they have been sexually hurt by their dads, or brothers, or uncles, a new pair of shoes isn’t going to heal those girls. A new pair of shoes is almost an insult. But you can see how the music affects them. They hear the message.

Do you keep in touch with the children?

I’ve kept in touch with probably half a dozen.

There was a girl in Peru who really loved my Joy FM hat, but it had my name on it. When I got back, I was able to get her a hat and send it to her.

Has serving as a missionary changed your world view?

The world feels a lot smaller to me. The Gospel is more than the American version of how we see it. I used to think it was going to church on Sunday. Now I understand that pure religion in the eyes of the Lord is taking care of the widows and the orphans. There’s a difference between hearers of the word and doers of the word. The Gospel has a whole new meaning.

Coming off such an emotionally charged experience, how do you go back to being cheerful Carmen on the radio?

A lot of prayer. I cry a lot. I journal a lot. It’s a process. There’s a verse in John where God says I will not leave you as orphans. I have to rest in the knowledge that God loves them. As much as I am hurting, God loves them and hurts for them more than I do.

I came back, and my husband’s here. My daughter still needs me to drive her to basketball practice. I’m stepping back into life, maybe even a little faster than I’d like to.

To read more about Carmen Brown’s trip and Shoes for Orphan Souls, visit thejoyfm.com/carmen.

“The turnout was wonderful,” said Julia Stark, program manager of Shoes for Orphan Souls. “It was much, much higher than we expected, and it was such a fun community atmosphere. It was great to see families come together and run together to raise awareness about the needs of orphans and vulnerable children who go without shoes.”

The event raised money to benefit children in Africa, and participants said they had a great time doing it.

“We received many, many compliments from people telling us how much they enjoyed the event,” said Rachel Garton, director of Shoes for Orphan Souls. “We also heard a lot of great things from the runners about how beautiful the running trails were at Andy Brown Park.”

The male overall winner was Clint Bell, with a time of 15:58.00. The female overall winner was Susan Whiting, who finished with a time of 19:53.00.

Several dozen participants ran barefoot, Stark said. Jason Hoofnagle was the male overall barefoot winner, coming in at 23:14.00. The female overall barefoot winner was Toni Marshall, with a time of 29:12.00.

“We look forward to hosting a race again next year and to building on the great support we received from the community,” Stark said.

To see photos from this year’s race, check out the race photo album on the Shoes for Orphans Souls Facebook page at www.facebook.com/shoesfororphansouls.

“Everything looks like it’s under construction, but I’m pretty sure that none of it is.”

That was my first thought as our bus made its way up to the Pamplona district of Lima, Peru. Walls were half built. Roofs were unfinished. There were holes for windows with no glass in sight. The “homes” in Pamplona have been built into the side of the hills, and if one started to fall I’m quite sure that they all – like dominoes – would crumble in succession. It is hands down the most poverty-stricken place I have ever been to.

We regularly see parts of our world that have been ravaged by natural disasters on the news. We hear the stories of families that are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives that wind and rain have stolen. But these precious people in Lima aren’t in the process of recovering from anything.

No hurricane or tornado ripped through Pamplona last month. No fire broke out or storm blew in. No earthquake cracked their foundations and toppled their walls. These conditions are a day-to-day reality, not the result of a one-time tragedy.

Maybe it’s because this is my first day in Peru (or maybe it has something to do with me getting seven total hours of sleep in the last 66 hours), but I don’t see this city-within-a-city changing because of our visit. With our help or without it, I don’t see a revitalization of Pamplona in the near future. But you know what? That’s okay.

Americans especially like to involve themselves in mission projects such as this one because (in two weeks or two years or two decades) we assume that our efforts will be “worth it.” We enjoy seeing a “return.” We like knowing that we had a hand in moving a situation from bad to good. Or at least bad to better.

But Hugo, the young boy who got new shoes from me today, will need another pair next year. Mariabella, the cutest five year-old girl ever, will not be able to afford her own crayons or paper anytime soon. The man I saw sitting in a pile of old newspapers, looking out over his community, will probably see a very similar sight next year and the year after and the year after.

How am I okay with that? Well, sometimes, just sometimes, life isn’t about change or progress or transition. Sometimes it is about doing the right thing, regardless of whether or not there’s a return in it. Sometimes it’s about caring for someone’s today regardless of their someday.

Whether or not their futures are any brighter, today was better for Hugo and Mariabella. And that’s good enough for me.

Tim Sinclair is an author, blogger and radio personality with a passion for real and relevant discussions about faith. He went on a mission trip with Shoes for Orphan Souls in August 2011. You can see this post and others about Peru on his personal blog.

Shoes for Orphan Souls and the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid have dedicated friends and partners in the Missouri-based Convoy of Hope and Missouri Rotary District 6040. So when a destructive tornado ripped through Joplin in May, Buckner wanted to help.

“Although we’re not a disaster relief organization, we have a great partnership with Convoy of Hope and have supported each other’s ministries in various ways,” said Matt Asato, director of international humanitarian aid for Buckner. “We knew they were going to respond and we wanted to support our partner in their relief efforts however we could, as well as get much-needed aid to the people of Joplin.”

Buckner began collecting hygiene kits and other donations to meet the immediate needs of victims of the disaster.

On June 3, Buckner sent a shipment of disaster relief aid to the Convoy of Hope warehouse in Springfield, Mo., for distribution in Joplin.  The shipment, valued at over $67,000, contained 2,884 pairs of new shoes, new socks, baby items, hygiene kits, linens and clean-up items such as rakes, gloves, trash cans, trash bags and shovels.

Hygiene kits included such items as hand wipes, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries.

The Missouri Rotary District 6040 came through just in time with a fresh supply of new shoes. They completed their tenth annual shoe drive this spring and recently donated 16,350 pairs of shoes and 1,372 pairs of socks, some of which were a part of the shipment of aid to Joplin.

“For 10 years, Missouri Rotarians have diligently and proudly collected new shoes for orphans around the world,” said Larry Lunsford, the Rotary’s Buckner liaison. “Now we feel the tremendous pride of knowing that some of those shoes, collected in Missouri, have been sent to our fellow Missourians in the Joplin area during their time of desperate need.  It seems only appropriate.”

Buckner plans to send out its second and final shipment of aid to Joplin this week. The Center for Humanitarian Aid has ended its collection of hygiene kits, but is still accepting donations for disaster relief.

For questions regarding humanitarian aid collection, contact the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid at 214-328-7463. Click here to donate to Buckner International’s disaster response fund. In the designation line, click “other,” then write, “Disaster Response.”

The trip to Russia will focus on delivering shoes to and bonding with children in orphanages.

Reb Wayne went to Russia with Shoes for Orphan Souls in November 2007. A native of Austin, Texas, he said the cold was a shock, but the trip was worth every minute.

“When we got to the orphanage and I was told we were their first visitors in a year. I understood my purpose and it was life altering,” Wayne said.

He has been back to Russia once since that trip and plans to go again later this year. He has kept in touch with several people from his original mission trip team, and said that besides those friendships, the biggest blessing has been working to raise funds to sponsor two young boys he met at one of the orphanages he visited.

Travelers to Ethiopia can expect much warmer climates.

The Ethiopia trip involves spending time with children in the communities, distributing shoes and putting on a Vacation Bible School.

Leona Wynne went on the first Buckner mission trip to Ethiopia in November 2009. She said she was struck by the beauty of the country and the contentedness of the people.

“When we arrived at the school where we would be working with 200 young children, they were all in a huge circle singing a song of welcome,” Wynne said. “Afterward the mayor of the village called Getahun, the country director for Buckner, to let him know how appreciative the people were to have us visit and share our hearts and much-needed shoes.”

“I think it’s important not only to get out of my comfort zone but to see how other cultures live and not assume I know what their experience is from what I’ve seen on the news,” Wynne said. “The first thing I noticed in Ethiopia was how happy and joy-filled they were with very little of what we’re used to.”

For more details, view the trip flyer for Russia here and Ethiopia here, or call 1-877-7-ORPHAN.

Since a structured day of VBS was not the best way to reach these children, our Lord sent us in a new direction. With the artistic and musical abilities God has so lavishly doled out amongst our team, we led the children in singing songs like “Jesus Loves Me”—“Cristo me ama, la Biblia dice así.” They loved to dance—I have never seen so many happy feet in my life!

God was gracious to give us the privilege of washing the happy feet of the children. With the help of the most loving, patient and giving caregivers, we were able to put shoes on the feet of about 25 children.

Those little brothers and sisters in Christ know so much about something I cannot imagine: suffering. Seeing their joyful spirit despite such difficult circumstances in life made me feel I was truly the one being ministered to.

In situations like these, I cry out to God and ask: “Where are you? Why don’t you deliver these children? Why was I born in a loving family with so much?”

I have no answer. But I know God’s grace is sufficient and He will never forsake us. Never. God is always on His throne and He is sovereign. And I know one day God will exalt those little children and precious caregivers when their work on this earth is done.

Marshall Brakebill traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico on a Shoes for Orphan Souls mission trip in November 2010. To learn more about available trips in 2011, click here.

True, the 40 members of our group seemed disparate. First Baptist Church of Zavalla sent 18 members on what Pastor Jacob Fitzgerald says is the first mission trip for the congregation in the church’s 100 years of existence. Joining them were three members of The Running Back, a contemporary Christian band based in Little Rock, Ark., and about 20 others from diverse areas, backgrounds, ages and ethnicities.

David is a businessman from Moline, Ill. Maurice is a minister from Chattanooga, Tenn. Carolina is a teacher who came from Phoenix. Lindsey and Lauren are both freshmen at Texas A&M who met for the first time on the trip. Likewise, Marjorie, who I had never met, lives a block from me in Arlington, Texas.

Our common denominator for the June 9-13 Shoes for Orphan Souls trip was, of course, shoes. Tennis shoes, dress shoes, casual shoes, red shoes, white shoes, cartoon-character shoes, flowery shoes. Hundreds of shoes collected by volunteers nationally and sent to the Buckner Humanitarian Aid Center in Dallas before being shipped to the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Despite the reason for the trip, we all discovered quickly that our time in the Valley was not about the shoes. It was about the children who received them. We worked and distributed the shoes among the children living in colonias, a border phenomenon that defines complete poverty, right here in our own country.

In a season where Buckner needs more shoes than ever before, I prayed that our efforts to place new shoes on little feet would reflect the life-changing message that goes with them – the message that someone cared.

Russ Dilday is director of public relations for Buckner International.

By Samantha Soto

It’s day five of the Peru trip and God is definitely at work.

The first children’s home we visited posed a little bit of a challenge. A lot of the kids there had special needs and I know that I was a little concerned that we’d have to change it up a bit to accommodate them. But, of course, everything went well. The gospel was shared and shoes were given.

This home had babies. I went in to visit them and picked up the most adorable little boy with big brown eyes and beautiful eyelashes. He must have been about a year old. I talked to him and he smiled. I carried him around for quite some time and then decided that I should probably head back outside. As I put him back in his crib, he started to cry. It broke my heart so I picked him back up. I hugged him, kissed his head and told him that I loved him, but God loves him even more. He smiled and giggled. I didn’t want to put him down. As I put him back in his crib, he started to cry, but I just walked out because I started crying too.

Samantha Soto plays with girls at an orphanage in Peru.

Even though we aren’t here very long, it makes a difference. Look around. It makes a difference.¨

The second home we went to had approximately 20-25 boys ages 10-16. They welcomed us with open arms as all the other kids have. I met the sweetest boy today. Since we had about a 1:1 ratio, I didn’t fit multiple boys for shoes, just one. After trying on a few pairs, we finally got a pair that fit him perfectly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile as big as his. He hugged me, said “Gracias” and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then I tied his shoes and he hugged me again. When we left, he must have given my at least three more hugs as I was walking out.

Our presence here means the world to these kids. While I’m heartbroken and find it difficult to leave, I must remember the positive. I can still praise God that He is providing for them. I can praise Him for providing shelter, food, and shoes for them. I can praise Him for allowing us to spend time with these kids. I can praise Him for making it possible to share the gospel with them. I can praise Him for being more than enough. He is everything that they need. He is everything that we all need.

Click on the links below to learn more about how you can go on a Shoes for Orphan Souls mission trip to deliver shoes to orphans and vulnerable children in Romania, Mexico, Honduras or Ethiopia.

My heart was broken by the honesty had just encountered with a gorgeous 6-year-old girl.

Her name was Jennifer, and I had been talking to her while she was playing on the swing set, just after receiving her new pink shoes from Shoes for Orphan Souls. She was absolutely ecstatic when she saw that the shoes were pink and had been proudly displaying this new gift.

I asked her where she was from, and she told me a little town near Zacapa, and then I asked the question that will forever be imprinted on my heart. I asked her why she was in the orphanage and her response, “Porque mi madre no me quiere” which means, because my mother doesn’t want me.

It was like a knife to my heart. The way she stated the situation, so matter-of-factly, tore me to pieces. How could any child, let alone a 6-year old, deal with the realization that her mother doesn’t want her and gave her over to a government institution? Throughout my travels with Buckner, I have encountered immense sadness, devastation, and hurt, mostly involving teenagers in a similar situation. I was not, however, ready for this sweet, little girl to tell me the same scenario that I normally hear from a 15-year old.

That afternoon confirmed my calling to serve the children of God. My career is to serve orphans and vulnerable children around the world, starting by meeting their physical needs and then, sharing with them the glorious love of our Heavenly Father. I was able to share with little Jennifer, that her Creator will never leave nor forsake her and that He loves her, no matter what.

Through the work of Buckner, those in need across the globe are able to hear the good news of our Lord and Savior. There is no greater gift!

“…his name is the Lord – rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling” (Psalm 68:4-5).

Brynn Anderson, from Dallas, Texas, serves as coordinator for Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls.