HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The start of the new school year is only three weeks away and to help children and teens in need get ready for the resumption of classes, BeHeartfelt is holding a shoe drive.
It’s BeHeartfelt’s third annual shoe drive. In the past, it has secured a number of donations on Guam and from off-island to help children who are homeless or in need by providing a few pairs of shoes for school.
“We have done a great job through our past donations, so hopefully we can continue to grow each year,” Lori Marsh-Marble, the group’s founder, told the Guam Daily Post.
Last year, the shoe drive collected over 900 pairs of shoes. The year before that, over 1,200 pairs were donated.
This year, as of Friday, off-island donations from Kansas has resulted in 600 pairs that will be shipped to Guam shortly. But there’s still a long way to go to ensure children in need have proper footwear for school.
“We understand donating may be difficult for some families, but we hope those (who) can will still go through their closets and find shoes to donate. Small sizes are most needed,” Marsh-Marble said.
Shoes collected will be dispersed through school outreach teams and any surplus of shoes from the donation drive will benefit children at local shelters, such as Harvest House, Catholic Social Service, Kamalen Karidat and to youths in Palau and Chuuk.
This year local donations are being accepted at Famous Footwear in GPO, Triple J’s headquarters in Tamuning, and the Inalåhan and Mangilao mayor’s offices. Closed-toe shoes that are in good condition can be dropped off to any of the locations until Aug. 4.
BeHeartfelt is accepting new and used shoes until Aug. 4 as part of their shoe drive for Guam’s children in need.
