On June 3^rd 2012 Seven year old Lauren Chin will collect shoes at her birthday party for Soles4 Souls Canada.

The birthday party is happening in Milton Ontario and will be attended by 120 friends and relatives.

All the Best and Happy Birthday from Soles4Souls Canada

Hi everyone!  It’s me Lauren.  I am turning 7 years old and I have a special birthday wish.  I am very blessed.  I have my mom, dad and brother who love me very much.  They give me everything I need and more.

This year for my birthday, I am not asking for any presents.  Instead, I am asking everyone and I mean EVERYONE, for shoes to donate to children in need.  I am very lucky to have so many things so I thought that I could help other kids by collecting shoes for them.

My mom found an organization called SOLES4SOULS who collect new and used shoes to give to those in need.  SOLES4SOULS has given over 17 million pairs of shoes to people in 127 countries.

On June 3rd, I hope you can make it to the party.

Together, we can change the world one pair at a time.

Please help me make my birthday wish come true.

For more info:

laureniscollectingshoes@gmail.com

The average woman owns 19 pairs of shoes and that’s good news for Jim Belshaw of the Soles4Souls Canada campaign.

Castanet’s Kelly Hayes reports.

Anushka Shah, Grade 8 Bridlewood Elementary School student will lead this initiative for the school

Bridlewood Elementary School Kanata is committed to building strong positive relationships with all our students, families and community members. Staff takes great pride in providing a safe and secure learning environment, while offering a wide array of exciting and challenging academic programs.

Our entire staff is committed to establishing a school environment that allows our students to flourish and to grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Together, we continue to provide Bridlewood students with the best education possible! It is important to have good communication between home and school. This website is one more way to communicate with you.

Bridlewood ES is located in the Bridlewood area of South Kanata. The school offers a Regular English Program, as well as a Middle French Immersion. Other programs offered are Congregated Intermediate Gifted Program, Behaviour Intervention Program, Dual Support Program and an ESL program.

Bridlewood Elementary School

63 Bluegrass Drive
Kanata, Ontario
K2M 1G2

http://www.bces.ca/

Principal: Nora McEwen
Vice-Principal: Mark Heckman

Aayush Shah, Grade 11 student at Lisgar Collegiate School will lead this initiative for the school

At Lisgar Collegiate Institute we focus on the three “A’s” – Academics, Athletics and the Arts, with a strong emphasis on our community.

We are extremely proud of our accomplishments and welcome any opportunity to work in partnership with others to develop all Lisgar students in the areas of excellence, leadership and citizenship.

Lisgar Collegiate

29 Lisgar Street,
Ottawa, ON K2P 0C1
http://www.lisgar.ca

Volunteers are meeting for sorting on next 3 Tuesday mornings from 10 am to Noon 1026 Enterprise Way across the street from Tim Hortons.

If you would like to pitch in contact Jim Belshaw Roy’s Shoes, Boots and Repair http://www.roysshoes.com 1627 Ellis Street Kelowna, BC V1Y 2A8 250-763-5696

They will be helping us by donating some of their collection to aid in our reaching our 2012 goal.
Soles Responsibility will collect shoes at:
May 5-6th – GoodLife Fitness Marathon, Toronto at race registration.
May 12th – Somersault’s Place D’Orleans Day Before Mother’s Day races
May 19th – Somersault’s Early Bird Triathlon at Carleton universit
May 24th to 26th – The Capital Race Weekend, at race registration.

Our Goals
To tap into the enthusiasm and generosity of athletes by offering them the ability to donate their gently used running shoes to refugees in Africa and the needy in their own community. Through working with the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) and local non-profits, Sole Responsibility is able to ensure that athletes’ gently used shoes get into the hands, and onto the feet, of individuals who need them.

In 2012 we aim to:
Increase our collection to 7,000 pairs for Yemen and 7000 for Kenya to mark our 7th year in operation
Expand the number of collection sites.
Give athletes the opportunity to donate their shoes in other locations in Canada.
Partner with a transport company that will donate transit to Ottawa for shoes collected in other locations.
Partner with a company that will store the shoes prior to transit.

About Sole Responsibility
We are a grass-roots non-profit organization formed in 2005 by a group of runners in Ottawa who want to donate gently used running and walking shoes overseas. As runners, we buy new running shoes every few months. Our old shoes are no longer suitable for training, but still have miles of life left in them. So we started to think of all the runners in all the events in the National Capital area – and we thought it would be great if we could collect their used shoes and ship them to people who really need them. Each spring, we will collect shoes at Ottawa running events. We will also have drop-off sites throughout the city. We ask for a donation of $2 per pair to offset the shipping costs.

Where the shoes are going?
Each year, we consult with the UNHCR to determine the area of greatest need. Since starting in 2005, our collections have gone to Chad, Rwanda, Lesotho, Cameroon, Djibouti and Namibia. Our 2012 collection will be going to help Somali refugees at camps in Yemen.

What type of shoes are we collecting?

We are collecting running shoes of all shapes and sizes, adult and children’s sizes.

CHLK FM 88.1 Lake 88 serving Perth and the surrounding area with a mix of local waves and soft hits.

Click here to Listen to Interview

WOW!!!  

60,000 shoes collected so far in Canada!!!

Shoe Collection extended into May!!! 

An appeal to collect footwear for the poor and needy is a runaway success with bins overflowing at all collection locations in Canada.

By April 19^th at the mid –way point of the collection of gently worn shoes, it is estimated that 60,000 pairs of shoes collected with people dropping of runners, boots, dress shoes, baby shoes, sandals, snow boots and even construction boots.

“The response has been phenomenal, there‘s no other way to describe it,” Robichaud said. “People have been so generous. We‘ve got all kinds of shoes, all shapes and sizes.”

“We‘ve even had some brand new shoes, never been worn before, with the price tags still on them.”

Most people donated more than one pair of footwear, and Robichaud says most of the shoes were in good, clean condition.

Many Canadian business, schools, churches, community groups, and running associations have joined in to support this great cause.

Due to the request of running clubs and business owners across the country Soles4Souls Canada will be extending its Million Shoe Mission into May 2012.

In the last few years the tragedy in Haiti and Japan reminds us of the children around the world who live a life of tragedy and disaster every day.

By giving them the gift of shoes, you tell them that it’s possible to dream beyond their current situation and remind them that there are people in the world who love and care for them today.

“I want to personally thank Mrs. Harper for her support of Soles4Souls Canada and her donation in Ottawa and Vancouver to this worthy charity, as it really helped the raising of our visibility in Canada” says Robichaud.

Without the support of all the sponsors and especially the people behind the major drop-off locations and volunteers, this charity would not be possible.

Since its inception in 2004, Soles4Souls has distributed over 17 million pairs of shoes, and has responded to more than 40 natural disasters worldwide with crisis relief aid, including Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the Japan earthquake, and the Alabama and Missouri tornadoes in 2011.

With 1 in 4 people around the world living in abject poverty, the shoe charity also assists individuals living in developing nations and in the U.S. and Canada who cannot afford shoes.

For more information on how to help this great cause contact:

Donald J.L. Robichaud

Director Eastern Canada
Soles4Souls Canada

Email
613- 466-0416 or 1-888-768-9415

http://www.soles4soulscanada.com/ 

or 

Western Canada 

Jim Belshaw
Chair
Soles4Souls Canada
250-763-5696

roysshoes@shaw.ca  

Published on Apr 28, 2012 by S4SCanada
Shoe drive is a runaway success as Ottawa Citizens put their best foot forward.
An appeal to collect footwear for the poor and needy is a runaway success with bins overflowing at all collection locations.

When he started the campaign, Donald Robichaud hoped they might collect a couple of thousand shoes for their Million Shoe Mission.

By April 19th at the mid –way point of the collection of gently worn shoes, it is estimated that 20,000 pairs of shoes collected in eastern Canada with people dropping of runners, boots, dress shoes, baby shoes, sandals, snow boots and even construction boots.

“The response has been phenomenal, there’s no other way to describe it,” Robichaud said. “People have been so generous. We’ve got all kinds of shoes, all shapes and sizes.”

“We’ve even had some brand new shoes, never been worn before, with the price tags still on them.”

Most people donated more than one pair of footwear, and Robichaud says most of the shoes were in good, clean condition.

Many Ottawa business, schools, churches, community groups, and running associations have joined in to support this great cause.

In the last few years the tragedy in Haiti and Japan reminds us of the children around the world who live a life of tragedy and disaster every day.
By giving them the gift of shoes, you tell them that it’s possible to dream beyond their current situation and remind them that there are people in the world who love and care for them today.

“I want to personally thank Mrs.Harper for her support of Soles4Souls Canada and her donation in Ottawa to this worthy charity as it really helped the raising of our visibility in the community” say’s Robichaud.

Without the support of all the sponsors and especially the people behind the major drop-off locations and the volunteers, this charity would not be possible.

A big thank you also to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Dymon Self Storage — Senior VP Stephen Creighton and Local Heroes Mark Kosmos for their help in this great charity.

This weekend April 28th 2012, we will be doing our first major sort of the collected shoes at Dymon Self Storage at 1830 Walkley Road between 9am and 12 pm.

Once the shoes are sorted and banded together this weekend, the first dibs on the donated shoes will be offered to representatives of local social service agencies on Ottawa such as West Community Health Centre, Ottawa Carleton Immigration Services, Ottawa Mission, Harvest House Organization, Overbrook-Forbes Community Resource Centre, St. Mary’s Home, Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, Family Services à la famille Ottawa, Jewish Family Services and others will all be offered footwear for their clients.

After that, the remaining shoes will be sent to a Nevada sorting facility operated by Soles4Souls, an American charity created in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in the South Pacific.

Since its inception in 2004, Soles4Souls has distributed over 17 million pairs of shoes, and has responded to more than 40 natural disasters worldwide with crisis relief aid, including Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the Japan earthquake, and the Alabama and Missouri tornadoes in 2011.

With 1 in 4 people around the world living in abject poverty, the shoe charity also assists individuals living in developing nations and in the U.S. and Canada who cannot afford shoes.

For more information on how to help this great cause contact:

Donald J.L. Robichaud
Director Eastern Canada
Soles4Souls Canada
info@soles4soulscanada.com
613- 466-0416 or 1-888-768-9415
http://www.soles4soulscanada.com/

It matters what you choose to do today—not tomorrow or sometime in the future. People are hurting, and you have the ability to do something about it.

What will you do today to leave a lasting impact?

Our goal at Soles4Souls Canada is to collect one million pairs of shoes in every province in Canada.