Soles4Souls charity donates footwear to Haiti

The shoes were dumped on the Palmetto highway, and they were reported to the local police shortly before 8am, during rush hour. According to the Florida Highway Petrol, they include several work boots, bath slippers, tennis sneakers, beach sandals, even inline skates. All of them appear to be used, and most of the shoes are tied together in pairs. The traffic had to be disrupted for hours due to the surprising hindrance, and although the police managed to clear one lane relatively quickly, delays serious delays were reported throughout the day until all of the shoes were removed from the location.

Lt. Pat Santangelo of the Florida Highway Petrol said it was unclear where the shoes had come from. No signs of a crash were found, and no stopping truck was reported.
Soles4Souls Charity contacted the Florida Police offering immediate action, after Lt. Pat Santangelo told journalists they were looking for a charity to give the shoes to. “These shoes are abandoned property and we’re happy that Soles4Souls can make good use out them,” Santangelo was quoted as saying.
Soles4Souls CEO Wayne Elsey dubbed the sight of the several thousand shoes a a stark reminder of how many shoes wasted across the US. “Too many perfectly good shoes are thrown away each year, and it’s a shame,” he said, adding that “Soles4Souls is dedicated to keeping usable footwear out of our landfills and putting them on the feet of needy people around the world.”
Soles4Souls was founded by Wayne Elsey after the 2004 tsunami hit Southeast Asia. According to the founder the idea of providing new or gently used shoes for the needy was triggered by a footage of the tsunami’s aftermath, showing a single pair of shoes washing the shores of the ocean. After a few calls to industry top-hats, Soles4Souls managed to donate a quarter of a million shoes to victims in the devastated countries.
It has, since then, distributed some 3.9 million pairs of shoes worldwide, with the help of shoe companies, retailers and individuals. Elsey estimates that over 300 Million people around the world don’t own a pair of shoes.
His charity’s motto is: Changing the World One Pair at a Time.

It’s a pretty frightening phenomenon that, at this time of the year, people are spending huge amounts of money (probably billions of dollars altogether) on unwanted presents. The necessity of picking a present to everybody (even to those whom you don’t know enough to pick an appropriate gift) forces people spend money on things that they don’t want to buy. Surprisingly, it turns out, those who receive it, don’t want to do so.

Choosing a wise Christmas present, therefore, is a great way to do good to charity organizations, but more importantly to do good to those, whom you want to present with these gifts.

As my first post on this charity and donations blog, I’ve collected a bunch of ideas for Christmas presents. If I missed something, or you have additional ideas, feel free to leave a comment!

1. Unicef
Unicef is the United Nation’s Children’s Fund, that is involved in an infinite number of projects, from orphanages to child protection from education to combating child labor or poverty. This, I’m sure you already knew. What you may have not known is that they produce and sell brilliant gifts (Christmas and other), and with buying these items, you’ll support their work for the benefit of all.

Unicef Christmas gifts

Unicef items (postcards, toys, mugs, notebooks, calendars etc) come with a unique design, usually in a very charming manner. I personally have numerous of these items: a 1000 piece puzzle, several mugs in different shapes and sizes, and a couple of notebooks (the paper-based ones). I always love to receive and to give Unicef presents, because they are very good to use, because they look very good, and because they support an undoubtedly positive cause.
Furthermore, there is a high probability that Unicef has an office or a shop not too far away from where you live, as they maintain offices in every major town and city. Although, I might be mistaken on that one, depending on where you live. If so, use their webshop. You can find the US version here.

2. Operation Smile holiday gifts
Operation Smile is a worldwide children’s medical charity headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. Launched in 1982, Operation Smile is currently present in 51 countries. For this holiday season, they’ve selected meaningful gifts (toys, “smile bags”, blankets, but even medicines and supplies), that you can give in the names of your family, friends and colleagues. If you choose Operation Smile, you will receive a customized gift card after every purchase. You can give these cards to your loved ones. If you purchase anything over $240, you are honored with a free t-shirt.

Operation smile

3. Charity-Gifts.org
Charity Gifts is a website where you can browse among different charity organizations, and see what they can offer you as a Christmas present, in return for a donation or your support. There are some 25 gift providers, you can choose from. Available presents range from a one-year WWF-membership to UK cancer research. With Charity-Gifts.org’s sister site, Donation4charity.org, you can even have your own Charity Credit card. Charity Credit Cards are a great way to help the charity of your choice whilst benefiting from low rates. Some Charity Credit Cards make donations every time you make a purchase, an upfront payment when you sign up, and / or a yearly loyalty payment to your charity.

4. Gift of sight
The Sightsavers‘ gift list gives you a great opportunity to buy your friends and loved ones a present which, on the other hand, has a huge impact on someone else’s life in the developing world. With your purchases (that are rewarded with a unique certificate card), you support eye treatments of people living in the developing world. You can chip in for as low as $30, that would fully pay for a trichiasis operation for someone on the other end of the world (Trichiasis is a condition caused by an infection of micro-organisms where the eyelid turns inwards and the eyelashes rub on the eyeball, causing scarring, constant irritation, terrible pain and eventually blindness). Other donations are more costly, of course, but at the end of the day you can give (or give back) someone’s eyesight by this present. What could be more enlightening than that?

5. International Medical Corps.
By supporting International Medical Corps, you can do even more than giving someone back his or her eyesight. You can save lives. International Medical Corps (IMC), established in 1984, is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

The gifts they offer may seem pretty basic, such as food to malnourished children (hunger kills more people worldwide than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined), clean water for families, emergency supplies for disaster survivors or malaria treatments for children in need. IMC also rewards your help with personalized honor cards, while using your purchase directly where it’s needed.

Do you have other ideas? Do you work or volunteer for a different charity that also offers Christmas gift ideas? Please leave a comment!

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