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Children's shoe charity comes to Southern Illinois

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 11:40 AM CDT

The Southern

According to the Soles4Souls Charity, Americans dispose of about 300 million shoes a year. On the flipside there are about 300 million children in the world who don't have shoes.

With this in mind footwear retailer Shoe Carnival is linking up with Soles4Souls to help send shoes to those who need them.

From Sept. 3 through Sept. 24 donations of "gently-worn" shoes will be accepted at the Shoe Carnival Store at 1340 E. Main St. in Carbondale and at any of the company's other 300 locations.

Those looking to make a donation can pay $2 for a paper shoe which will be displayed in the store's window. Kim Dettwiller, a spokesperson for Nashville-based Soles4Souls said Monday that donation will be enough to pay for a pair of shoes for a child.

"That one $2 donation will in fact buy one pair of shoes," she said. "They (purchased and donated shoes) have been distributed in over 60 countries around the globe including the United States."

Dettwiller said that where the shoes go depends on current needs.

"They go to disaster areas, children's homes, schools," she said. "We have several warehouses around the country, and the donated shoes are taken to each of those distribution centers. They are then sorted and some are donated to people in need. We are a green charity so the shoes that you can't wear (because they are too worn) we sell them to companies that use them as building materials for things like roads."

Stacy Carr, a spokesperson for the Evansville, Indiana-based Shoe Carnival, said she is confident that the store's customers will contribute to the charity.

"Gently-worn shoes will go to someone who needs them," she said. "And a $2 donation will buy a pair of shoes. We think our customers will embrace that."