This will be the third year for the JSU elite honor students to sponsor a SHOE drive. The drive is through the entire month of February. All shoes will be donated to the JCOC (Jacksonville Christian Outreach Center) locally.
Boxes are placed throughout JSU for students to donate new or slightly worn shoes for charity. Last year boxes were only in the academic buildings, however, this year they will also be placed in residence halls. In future years, more boxes can be placed in other areas to increase donations.
“Students spear-heading this are elite honor scholars, and it’s a big service project for them and they can give back from the benefits they receive for their scholarships.” says Janet Whitmore, Honors Program Coordinator.
Inspiration for this project came from “Tom” shoes. The maker of “Tom” shoes, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina that do not have shoes to protect their feet and walk barefoot every day. He wanted to help by having his company donate a pair of shoes to a child for every purchase that was made.
Elite honors decided to help those locally. The first year, 50 shoes were collected around campus. Then last year, 220 pairs of shoes were collected. This year they hope to beat last year’s number and progressively get larger.
The drive is personal to the students involved. The students are so spread out with their schedules, this allows them to bring the shoes to one place and count them all together as a group with a similar project.
Plans for the project’s future? They say every year is a growing effort.
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