Feet for Francis shoe drive Resonates with K-8 students
Feet for Francis shoe
drive resonates with K-8 students
October 13, 2015
By Paul McMullen
GLEN BURNIE – As others
enjoyed a relaxed lunch hour Oct. 9, Ilvin Rodriguez worked up a serious sweat.
Rodriguez is a
collection driver for Funds2Orgs, the Florida-based outreach that partnered
with the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Catholic Review Media on the Feet for
Francis shoe drive that complemented the Pilgrimage of Love and Mercy.
He had already made
morning pick-ups at Immaculate Conception School in Towson and Archbishop
Curley High School in Baltimore, which had served as consolidation points for
nearby parishes and schools that had registered for the shoe drive.
Monsignor Slade Catholic
School in Glen Burnie served as a stand-alone site, however, as it more than
doubled its goal of 2,500 pairs of shoes by collecting 5,125.
The Slade community
filled 205 of the large bags supplied by Funds2Orgs, more than 20 percent of
the 954 bags that Rodriguez picked up in Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City
and Baltimore County Oct. 7-9.
The Slade effort got a
considerable boost from one of its families. According to the school, Patricia
and Everette Wroten, parents of third-grader Logan and first-grader Lily, own
Vigilant Restoration, which donated 1,550 pairs of shoes to Slade’s effort.
Sally Miller, chairwoman
of the school’s Mission Committee, got emotional Oct. 9 as she briefed
middle-schoolers ready to move bags from the auditorium/gymnasium to the
soon-to-arrive Funds2Orgs truck.
“Some of the bags are
heavy, if it takes two (to pick them up), get underneath,” Miller said. “So,
before I cry, I want to thank you for your help, and thank your parents and the
community, which came through in the way it did. You have supplied shoes for
many, many people.
“Say a special
thanksgiving to God, because he’s the original provider.”
Funds2Orgs will sell the
shoes, at a considerable discount, to micro-entrepreneurs in developing
nations; based on the weight of the shoes collected, it will reimburse the
archdiocese, money that will go to its charitable works.
Inspiration for Slade
students included Lisa Palazzo, communications coordinator, who lined halls
with cut-outs of paper shoes for every pair donated.
“This community is
generous beyond belief,” said Alexa Cox, principal.
- See more at:
http://www.catholicreview.org/article/life/catholic-education/feet-for-francis-shoe-drive-resonates-with-k-8-students#sthash.9UmRte9x.dpuf