My name is Jonathan Morgan Heit.  I am 11 (almost 12) years old and I am proud to be the very first kid spokesperson for Soles4Souls.   I am a child actor and started in the business when I was only four years old.   I happened to live in Hollywood and went to a preschool that performed elaborate plays given we were so young.   Everyone noticed right off the bat that not only did I know my lines but I memorized the whole entire play.  Before I knew it I had a manager and an agent and was booked for commercials and TV shows!  When I was 8, I landed my first huge role as the main boy in “Bedtime Stories” and had the amazing opportunity to work very closely with Adam Sandler.   After that I worked on many other projects including the films “Valentine’s Day” and “Date Night,” and got to work with more incredible people like my role model Garry Marshall.  I really love the entertainment business and have even written and directed two short films of my own.

Early on my parents started to expose me to the idea of giving back and helping other people.  I love people in general and was happy to get involved in doing what I could to make other kids happy.  In addition , my Aunt Lauren Segal spends 100% of her running an organization she founded called NextAid that focuses on helping women and kids in Africa.   Last summer, I worked with Lauren to start a “Kids for Kenya” campaign to specifically help raise money to benefit one of her projects, The Kawangware Vision Center.   In addition, I have been involved in other charity projects like reading to kids as part of the SAG Book Pals program and recently worked on a short film called “The Call,” which addresses anti-smoking for young people.   Even if I wasn’t an actor I would love doing charity work, but I’ve learned that my acting position enables me to be a positive influence on kids that don’t even know me!

My mom recently told me about Soles4Souls and I immediately wanted to get involved.   First of all, I have an obsession with shoes – especially cool sneakers. I also realized during my trip to Africa how badly many of the kids I met needed shoes. Many of them were barefoot and had to walk long ways over tough roads, broken glass and other dangerous conditions to get to school.

I am very excited to help Soles4Souls in any way I can.   I recently recorded some voice over for the Soles4Souls partnership with Little Gym  - and right now I am helping them collect celebrity-signed shoes from some other young actors I am friends with for their upcoming auction.  I am super excited about the possibility of  joining them on a trip to Haiti this summer and helping bring shoes and smiles to kids over there.  In the Fall, I also plan to do a shoe drive in Los Angeles to help collect more shoes to give to others.

What in the world could someone be training for with a regimen like that? Oh you know, just getting ready to run across the ENTIRE UNITED STATES! It’s quite a daunting task, but 17-year-old Rae Heim is more than ready for the challenge. In fact, she’s already started the challenge.

 ”When I was fifteen years old, I became passionate about something that I never thought to be possible. I entered a seven-mile road race on a whim; I entered about three hours before the race was scheduled to begin. I had never run more than a mile and absolutely hated the thought of pounding the pavement. But somewhere and somehow during those ridiculously hilly seven miles in Davenport Iowa, I fell in love with the very concept of running,” she says on her Facebook page.

Two full marathons and five half marathons (three of those run barefoot) later, Rae decided she would run across the country for a cause. She started in Boston, MA on April 1^st and will end in Huntington Beach, CA on November 17^th. Today, she is running 18.4 miles from New Albany, OH to Dublin, OH. Though she is the first person to attempt a barefoot solo run, she has had ample company along the way with friends and family joining her on bike or on foot for various legs of the trip – including our own Kelly Modena!

We’re so excited to be part of this incredibly journey!! If you’d like to contribute your own resources to help make this adventure a success, please considering donating to Rae’s Soles4Souls fund and/or her personal travel expenses fund!

Also, be sure to check back for continual updates! You can do so at: http://flavors.me/raeainslee

I bet we could safely agree that designing your own flip flops would make the ultimate piece of convenient footwear. And now, Soles4Souls and Flying Flips are giving you a way to do just that, through the Give-a-Flying-Flip program. So as their website says,

When you purchase a pair of FlyingFlips you aren’t only choosing to put some fine lookin’ flips on your feet, you’re also choosing to affect change in the world. So, when you create new adventures in your flip-flops you can know that you gave someone else that same comfort, that same protection, that same freedom. Now that’s 

Do you like to design? Well this site is especially awesome for you then! Flying Flip’s gives aspiring artists the chance to have their own flip flop designs featured in their store. All you have to do is create, submit and then vote!

Thank you Flying Flips for creating this program and donating a pair of flip flops each time someone buys one! You truly are Rockstar Donors.

As nice as it was to be home for a few days, it was soon time to hit the road again, this time, bound for Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI.  MSU is home to the very first Soles4Souls College Chapter on campus!  So we were especially looking forward to meet the students and advisor who made this campus chapter possible.  Our first day on campus, we got to take part in the Cultural Remix event with dozens of other students groups, service organizations, and performance groups.  It was there we first met some of the S4S chapter members:  Aaron, Aaron, Helen, Sam, Xauntyse, and Karri (I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!).  The night flew by and it was a cool deal to work hand in hand with these students.

Day 2 was a campus day and we set up with the students in Brody, the largest non-military cafeteria in the U.S.  (or at least up there as the largest).  As diners strolled in and out of the café, we teamed up with MSU students to talk to folks and collect shoes.  Towards the end of our time at Brody, an MSU student approached the table, asking what we were doing.  As soon as he learned we were collecting shoes, he slipped his (almost new) sneakers off and gave them!  Without any hesitation! It was a beautiful moment and you can see his pic in our MSU Facebook album.

Day 3 carried us to a different location on campus-The Union-where we set up a table once again to talk one-on-one with students and collect the final shoes of the MSU drive.  We had a lot of folks bringing shoes this day-even calling us to know how long we would be so that they could be sure to make it by with their donations before we left the Union.  It was a great day and we got to know some of the charter S4S Club members a lot better.  Later the same evening, we were honored to attend the final semester meeting of the campus club, where we met almost 20 students who came to volunteer their evening to pair, rubber-band, and box the remaining shoes from their drive.  The group’s goal was to collect 2,000 pairs of shoes, and the grand total was 2,039 pairs!  Not bad for a very first shoe drive, huh?

So Heath and I want to thank all the Aaron (the advisor), Aaron (the student leader) and all the other incredible students we met, who so selflessly have given their time to collect and box over 2,000 pairs of shoes!  We have no doubt that this charter S4S Campus Chapter will do greater and greater things with each passing semester and we look forward to further developing their campus chapter and others in the future!

If you are in the East Lansing area and want to plug into the group, here’s how:
Email:  s4s@msu.edu
Twitter:  @S4SMSU
Facebook:  Michigan State University Soles4Souls-open group
Fundraising:  http://www.soles4soulsfundraising.org/s4smsu

And if your university is interested in starting a campus chapter, visit http://www.soles4souls.org/get_involved/collegechapters.html for more details.

Peace, Love, and Sole!

He got his second grade class at CES involved. The kids were so excited! They promoted the four week shoe drive around the school and to friends and family. However, the donations came pouring in so fast that they shoe drive has been extended 7 weeks. They have almost 1,500 pairs of shoes and counting!! In addition to regular promotion though, Michael did some brainstorming and decided to add a bit of entertainment.

“I thought it was important to add a fun incentive for our young students.  So, I agreed to do 1 push-up for every pair of shoes donated.  Each morning, I go up to the donation location and the students count out as I do the push-ups for the day’s collection.”

When the shoe drive started, Michael encouraged every student to go home and count how many shoes they owned. Collectively, they had 6,442 pairs!!! As a result he made a video using a graph to compare that number to the 300 million children who have no shoes. What a staggering difference and what a difference THEY Could make with the shoes sitting in their closets.

“Personally, the experience has been quite a learning experience for me,” says Michael. ” I’m hopeful that the students feel a sense of pride in their generosity.  More importantly, I hope the students come away from the experience with a greater sense of their place in the world community.”

All you need to do is go to www.cLLike.com and register your details and then each and every time you choose to like, follow or share an organization through their site on Facebook, Twitter or Linked In they will donate $1 to us.

If all our supporters that use a social networking site could switch their behavior to become cLLikers it would have a massive impact on what we could do here at Soles4Souls.

To learn more and see how cLLike works visit www.cLLike.com. We urge you to sign up today and start turning your existing social networking behavior into charitable donations.

After our breakout session, we were thrilled to be invited to come back to campus the following night to take part in the Wesley Foundation’s 3^rd Friday event.  Complete with live music, a snow-cone truck (YUM!), and the RV, we had a fun, breezy evening under the Spanish moss of Tallahassee.  And I would be remiss if  I didn’t mention that ‘Noles For Haiti kicked off their shoe drive that evening as well, so we did have several bags of shoes donated as the night rocked on.  It was our complete pleasure to be back at FSU this year!  Thank you Kylie for being just generally awesome and for having Heath and I back again!

While we were not quite ready to leave sunny Florida, the time had come to hit the road for a horticulture capital: Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  This particular city has been on our minds for a  while and we have been fascinated with the town and their involvement with Soles4Souls.  You see, the mayor had officially declared the week of our visit as “Soles4Souls Week”, which is just wicked awesome!  So we had chatted with our contact, Cheryl, several times about the visit and were prepared for a pretty neat stay in Cape.  What we could not have imagined, though, was the caliber of people we were about to meet!  The first two people we met upon arriving were Cheryl, our contact and coordinator of the city-wide shoe drive, and Maci, a student who quickly captured our hearts (not to mention my sympathy, as she was in a walking boot.  Left foot.  Had one once.  Feel her pain!)  We made quick introductions, though, really I felt like we were seeing old friends and we headed to dinner at Ces’s house.

Now here is where I need to give details.  Ces is a good friend of Cheryl’s and a member of the church that was serving as the primary drop off location for the shoe drive.  Ces also has been on a Travel4Soles distribution trip to Guatemala.  It was on this trip that she and Katie Lentile (T4S trip leader) became good friends.  Ces heard we were coming and that we were friends of Katie, and she decided immediately that we should stay with her while we were in town.  As Katie said, “Ces is 76, going on 21”, and I could not agree more!  When we arrived at Ces’s for dinner, we were greeted by a vibrant woman in a maxi dress, a beautifully set table, Frank Sinatra playing over the loudspeakers, and the strongest coffee I have ever tasted (Heath was in Heaven.)

During our week in Cape Girardeau, we visited Alma Schrader Elementary School, Notre Dame High School, Southeast Missouri University, SEMO’s River Campus, Marcy’s Planet Shoes, and spent a good deal of time at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church.  We did interviews for the local newspaper, the campus paper, and 2 local radio station.  We collected, tied, and sorted shoes and loaded them into a semi trailer.  We met countless people, shook hundreds of hands, and saw all the sights of Cape.  In short, it was one of the most memorable and meaningful weeks of our tour.  It wasn’t so much the events that made this stop great, but rather the people.  There is a spirit of community and giving unlike any other we have experienced.  Volunteers came day after day to work shifts in collected and sorting shoes.  Folks brought massive bags of shoes, hour after hour.  St. Andrews was bustling all day with activity and smiling people.  These residents truly cared about getting involved, with our cause and with many others.  All in all, the community raised over 4,000 pairs of shoes, which is incredible!  Heath and I left Cape with  a great respect for the community, a handful of new, lifelong friends, and a challenge for you, the reader.  I challenge you to get your community involved in your drive.  Call your local school and churches and tell them what you are doing.   Just ask people to get involved by donating. Cheryl is proof that one person really does make a difference!  So go on out there and make your difference, starting today.

Peace, Love, and Sole.

This week’s Rockstar Donor is Larina Lolley!  Larinda recently hosted a shoe drive and collected almost 1,000 pairs of shoes!! Want to know more about how she did it? Read on to see a recent conversation we had:

How did you first hear about Soles4Souls?
I heard about Soles4Souls on KLOVE radio, there was a brief description of what this ministry was about.

Why did you decide to host a shoe drive?
After I heard about Soles4Souls I decided that this was something that I could do since I am not able to travel to these countries at this time. Me and my family love to get involved in ministry projects and this seemed like a very good one

Where did you host the shoe drive?
I knew that I would need drop off locations in order for the public to get involved. My workplace (Golden Living Center) sometimes has different projects and I asked if this could be a dropoff place. It was okayed and we also sent out letters to all families of our residents. I then asked my Church (Northcrest Baptist) if I could collect shoes there as well. This was okayed and lots of donations were dropped off at this area. Also, we set up a collection box at Silver Leaf Manor in Meridian.

In what creative ways were you able to promote your shoe drive?
At my workplace we sent out letters to family members, I also used Facebook to help spread the word.

Did you have other people helping you?
My husband (Terry) was a tremendous help. Each day I would come home with bags of shoes and he helped me sort, bind, box, and load them all. My daughters helped at times. My workplace helped with advertisment as well as my Church.

What was your favorite part?
My hands personally touched each pair of shoes and as I was putting them in the boxes I tried to think of the people that would be wearing them. I would pray for the “Souls” of these strangers.

I read that a company donated a truck to transport the shoes – what company was it and how did that come about?
My workplace (Golden Living Center) let us use the facility van to take the shoes to Wadley,Al. I knew that the Lord would provide a way to transport them if I would be faithful to get the shoes together. The transportation fell into place the day before we travelled. God is Faithful:)

I feel blessed to have been a part of such a wonderful ministry project. My husband said that he was proud of me for following through from beginning to end. It was great meeting lots of people through their unwanted shoes.

Huh?

Let me explain. Barefoot Sunday is design to encourage religious organizations to get involved by leaving their shoes at the alter inconjunction with a church wide shoe collection. Barefoot Sunday helps encourage churches around the country to take off their shoes and go barefoot to raise awareness for the more than 1.5 billion people worldwide who do not own a single pair of shoes.  This Spring, more than 150,000 churches will be asked to join in and get involved by taking off their shoes for one Sunday.  As part of this powerful movement, congregants can bring their new or gently worn shoes to church or donate funds to Soles4Souls to help put shoes on the feet on the 300 million children around the world who are barefoot.

Are you interested yet? If your church or religious organization would like to take part in Barefoot Sunday, simply sign up HERE and our Faith Engagement Manager, Sean, will contact you. We can’t wait to see how many shoes you collect and as a result, how many lives you will change =)

photo by: Deborah Cannon/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Jay, from Karavel sent us this:

Karavel Shoes and Soles4Souls have been partnering together for several years. At Karavel Shoes, we put out Soles4Souls collection boxes a couple times a year, and tell our customers through advertisements and emails that we are conducting a shoe collection to benefit others who could use their gently used footwear. Our customers are as excited as we are about helping others, so every drive is a nice way for us to collectively give back to our community as well as others. Our involvement with the recent distribution at the Foundation for the Homeless in Austin was a memorable day for which we all feel proud. As part of our 75th anniversary, we wanted to do something special within our own city. It is very rewarding knowing we gave away over 100 pairs of shoes to those in need in our own area. It also was a huge reminder of how fortunate we are and how important it is to help others to make their lives easier. Karavel Shoes will continue to collect shoes through the end of May, so we encourage everyone to go through their closets and bring us what might be more beneficial for others in need.