Basketball team joins in Haiti relief effort

The local Sport Chalet in Glendora collected 24,600 pairs of shoes, along with the men and women’s basketball teams and the Associated Students of Citrus College Executive Board for the charity organization Soles4Souls.

More than 1 million pairs of shoes were collected from all 50 Sport Chalet stores located in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California.

Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and from the closets of people throughout the United States. It then distributes the shoes free of charge to people in need.

Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away more than 5.5 million pairs of new and used shoes to people in more then 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States. Organizers estimate that Soles4Souls distributes a pair of shoes every nine seconds.

After the Jan. 12 earthquakes in Haiti, Soles4Souls partnered with many well known retailers such as Finish Line, Timberland, A Runner’s Zone, and Sport Chalet as drop off locations for people to donate their shoes. 

When the executive board of ASCC heard about this effort, they immediately responded. They set up boxes for students, teachers and people in the local community to donate shoes through the 29. The basketball teams did their part by providing boxes at their two home games on Jan. 27 and Jan. 30.

“It was such a devastation,” said student trustee Karine Ponce.  “I mean, they are already such a deprived country as it is, and to have this happen is such a tragedy.”

Andy Rodemich, general manager of Sport Chalet in Glendora, said the company expected to collect about 50,000 pairs of shoes from all 50 of its stores.

“We are very surprised at the turn out,” said Rodemich. “It was a good measure to see what the community can do in times of crisis,” he said.

The ASCC also collected monetary donations for Doctors Without Borders.

“The earthquakes have not only brought our local community together, but the world,” said student trustee elect Alejandra Delgado. “It has opened our eyes, and caused everyone to put aside their selfishness.”

To donate shoes to the Sole4Souls program, log on to the website at www.Souls4Soles.org. To contribute to Doctors Without Borders, go to doctorswithoutborders.org.