DALLAS, Texas – A mid-April tornado that ripped through the R.G. Barry shoe company’s San Angelo distribution center has caused a whirlwind of volunteer activity for a North Texas non-profit.
Because of the damage caused by the twister, Shoes for Orphan Souls, a shoe collection ministry of Dallas-based Buckner International, is receiving an estimated 180,000 pairs of R.G. Barry shoes and slippers over the next few weeks.
The windfall, says Shoes for Orphan Souls director Rachel Garton, has created the need for additional local volunteers to help sort and prepare the shoes for distribution to orphan and at-risk children in more than 62 countries.
“Getting multiple truckloads of shoes in a short period is very unusual,” she says. “Usually, donated shoes come in large boxes, or one or two truckloads, but never in this volume. Because these shoes are arriving at an already busy part of our collection season, we need volunteer groups and individuals to come to the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid to help sort and prepare this large number of shoes.”
Garton says volunteering is “easy and rewarding. It’s a climate-controlled setting, and we take volunteer groups of one or 100 -- civic organizations, Sunday school classes, clubs, school groups, individuals or families -- all it takes is individuals wanting to make a difference. Come for an hour, come for the day.”
Processing of the tornado shoes is expected to take three months, and Garton says volunteers can call the humanitarian aid center at (214) 367-8080, ext. 1009, to schedule a time to volunteer.
In its ninth year of operation as a ministry of Buckner, Shoes for Orphan Souls has distributed more than 1.6 million pairs of shoes to 55 countries.
