Kiwanis Club is collecting shoes through March to send to Haiti, Ghana | Maple Valley and Black DIamond

The Black Diamond/Maple Valley Kiwanis Club representative, Becky Olness, knows everyone has old shoes at home not being worn. Instead of letting them collect dust and take up space, why not donate them?

Along with The Black Diamond/Maple Valley Kiwanis, nine other clubs in the area are collecting shoes until the end of March. Their goal is to get 300 bags of shoes; one bag has 25 pair of shoes.

So far, the clubs have gathered enough shoes to put together 25 bags. One of the member’s daughters works for TJ Maxx and they, along with Fred Meyer, have donated brand new shoes to the shoe drive, Olness said.

The shoe drive, which Olness is in charge of, is for an organization called Funds2Orgs. The organization has partners in 26 developing nations where they send the donated shoes for people in those countries to start businesses. The shoes are repaired, cleaned and sold for a profit around the globe, according to the Funds2Orgs website. The organization reaches out to clubs like Kiwanis to see if they’re interested in participating.

Any kind of gently worn and new shoes, kid’s, men’s, women’s, fancy, dress, athletic and cleats, are being accepted for the shoe drive.

Haiti and Ghana are the main countries the shoes are going to be sent to and will help create micro-businesses. If the Kiwanis Clubs reach the goal of 300 bags of shoes, they will receive $3,000. If they do not, the bags will be weighed and they will receive 40 cents per pound. The club will also be deducted $250 for shipping costs.

With the $3,000 the club will receive, $1,500 of it will go to find a cure for pediatric cancer through their partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Kiwanis Children’s Cancer Program.

The other $1,500 will go to Kiwanis International who are working with UNICEF to protect infants in third world countries from dying from neonatal tetanus by providing immunizations through the Eliminate Project.