04 Feb 2013 Girl Scouts collecting shoes for community service project
by Paige Turner
The Faulkner County Girl Scouts are collecting shoes to help fund water drills and purification systems in Africa. The final day to collect shoes will be on Sunday, Feb. 10, during the 10th annual World Thinking Day/Taster’s Tea event.
“World Thinking Day is designed to teach our girls about different places in the world,” said Angela Nord, Faulkner County Service Unit community and events coordinator. “We try to show the girls that you’re not just here locally, you can make a difference globally.”
The Faulkner County Girls Scouts have been collecting the shoes since the start of the academic school year and have received tremendous support from the community. Nord’s own troop has collected about 100 pairs of shoes since the beginning of September. Nord’s daughter, Katie, had seen a presentation by the founders of Ozark Water Projects and urged her mother to bring it back to the Girls Scouts as a global action project.
“At Vacation Bible School this past summer, a shoe drive was being held and Karla and Beckham Allen did a slideshow and spoke about the need for water,” Nord said. “My daughter looked at me and she said, ‘Mom, we have to do something.’”
Ozark Water Projects, a non-profit Little Rock organization focused on providing impoverished areas of Africa with fresh water, takes the shoes collected and converts them into money for the drilling and purification systems. Once shoes are collected, Karla and Beckham Allen sell the shoes by the pound to a person known as the Shoe Man. Shoes bought by the Shoe Man are given to people in need of them worldwide. The money from the exchange is then used to fully fund fresh water initiatives in countries like Uganda and Kenya.
“What Ozark Water Projects does and this shoe drive is a great activity for us because it falls so perfectly in line with so many of our global action focuses," Nord said. “Our goal as a service unit is to collect 5,000 shoes, which is enough to fully finance one well. I really think we can do this.”
At the end of the shoe drive, the Faulkner County Girl Scouts will have earned the Global Action Award and will either be recognized on a national or local level. Neighborhood collections have begun at several locations and will continue until Sunday, Feb. 10. Nord says the Faulkner County Girl Scouts are more excited than ever to meet their collection goal.
“It’s really amazing to think that something you throw away is desperately needed by someone else,” Nord said. “We’re crazy about this project.”
Shoes can be donated at the First United Methodist Church, Y107 radio station, Conway Family Bowl and the Centennial Bank location on Chestnut Street. All shoe types (heels, sneakers, flip-flops, rain boots, work boots, etc.) are acceptable. Shoes must be paired either by tying laces together or securing them with an elastic band. For more information, contact Angela Nord at 501.442.0008.
