Soles4Souls donates 12,515 pairs of shoes for Thanksgiving in Honduras

When Wadley’s Gary Clark led two Four Corners Ministries mission teams to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July, he found himself in the right place at the right time. A chance encounter one morning resulted in his meeting with government officials and getting the opportunity to share with them the work of Soles4Souls, Inc., the Wadley-based nonprofit organization that distributes shoes to the needy worldwide.

Clark established a relationship with the officials, the vice president’s wife and the Secretary of Health and Nutrition, during his two-week stay in Tegucigalpa, and as a result, he will be returning there later this month with a seven-member team that will distribute 12,515 pairs of shoes for Soles4Souls. A highlight of the trip, which is scheduled for the week of Thanksgiving, will be sharing a special Thanksgiving meal with local residents who survive day to day by sifting through the muck of the capital city’s landfill.

Tegucigalpa is like many other major cities in Third World countries; its poverty rate is tremendous, and jobs are scarce. Unfortunately, for many of the unemployed, the city landfill offers the only source of sustenance.

“I visited the city landfill during my July trip to Tegucigalpa, and one of the first things I noticed was the people’s feet,” Clark said, explaining that many were not wearing shoes as they traversed the filthy terrain that in places mimicked the consistency of liquid. The footwear he observed was insufficient and flimsy. With those images burned in his mind, Clark made it his personal mission to return to the area and supply the Hondurans with new shoes.

Just a few short months later, Clark, with the help of Four Corners and Soles4Souls volunteers, is seeing his dream become reality. The shoes, donated by individuals, retailers and footwear manufacturers, such as Timberland, Bates (Wolverine World Wide), Prop/t, and Ugg, are already en route to Tegucigalpa. The loaded tractor-trailer left Roanoke on Oct. 25 for Texas, where the container will be prepared for shipment to its final destination.

Soles4Souls is funding the transportation from Alabama to Texas, and Souls’ Host Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, in partnership with His Harvest Ministries of Mexico and Honduras, is funding the shipping and container from Texas to Honduras — a $6,000 to $8,000 expense. His Harvest Ministries is also generously providing additional labor and distribution assistance on the ground in Honduras.

“This has not been a simple project, but it has been so exciting and uplifting. Everything has just worked out,” Clark said. He noted that none of this would have been possible without the efforts of Soyla Radcliff of Souls’ Host Ministries, his initial contact while in Honduras, and the leadership of Soles4Souls and Four Corners.

In addition to distributing shoes at the Tegucigalpa city landfill, the Soles4Souls group will give shoes to residents of a local nursing home, a local M.S. center, and nearby Amapala Island that is home to some of the poorest citizens of Honduras.

According to Soles4Souls President Paul Wilson, the November trip is also providing an opportunity for Soles4Souls to lay the groundwork for a future trip that will involve taking footwear industry leaders into the poverty-stricken areas of Honduras to participate in hands-on shoe distribution.

The idea of Soles4Souls originated from two national shoe drives, one for Asian tsunami victims and one for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, that combined resulted in more than 900,000 pairs of shoes being given away to those in need. Since its official incorporation earlier this year, Soles4Souls has distributed in excess of 140,000 pairs of shoes throughout the world.

“From shoe donations to house fire victims in Roanoke and orphanages in Alabama and Tennessee to victims of poverty in Africa and South and Central America, we at Soles4Souls are standing by our purpose statement: ‘Making a difference one pair at a time,'” Wilson said.

For more information about Soles4Souls or to find out how you or your group can get involved, visit the website, soles4souls.org, or call 334-863-6628.

Donations accepted

Local residents can support the Thanksgiving mission by making donations to help with food expenses for the Thanksgiving meal, to support the local church in Tegucigalpa, and to cover some on the ground expenses for the team distributing the shoes in Honduras. For more information about how you can contribute, contact Clark at (334) 338-0071.