HAYMARKET — A Prince William County service groups have their feet on the ground and is taking donations of used shoes.
The Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority partnered with Funds2Orgs to raise funds for students in Prince William, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
The group aims to collect $1,000 for local students by collecting bags of used shoes, said Tonya Carter, a spokeswoman for the sorority.
“Each bag contains 25 pairs of shoes. Funds2orgs will then write a check for the weight of the shoes collected, approximately $1,000 for 100 bags of shoes. Funds2orgs then provides the shoes to any of 26 impoverished countries that they are partnering with to create micro-businesses in order to help their economic state. The majority of the shoes tend to go to Haiti, Ghana, and Bolivia,” states Carter, in an email.
The sorority will accept donations of shoes on Thursday starting from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Carter’s home at 6753 Edgartown Way in Haymarket. Afterward, crews will begin bundling the shoes for pick up.
“Our Chapter President, Lorraine Jackson, challenged us to find new and different ways to raise funds for scholarships and programs. She felt strongly that this effort mirrors much of what we stand for, and I took the lead to get it going. As the lead, I’ve been working out of my home to manage this project, so the shoes are stored there. Between my husband’s shop, Carter Fleet Services, and our garage, we were able to store all of the shoes without an expense, which is very important to a non-profit organization,” states organizer Tonya Carter in an email.
To reach her $1,000 goal, Carter hopes to collect thousands of pounds of shoes.
“This amount comes from collecting 2,500 pounds, which comes to about 100 bags. Because Funds2orgs is driving from Florida to pick them up, if we do not hit the 2500 lbs., they will withhold $250 from the proceeds to cover the cost of the trip. We would like to maximize our efforts, so we will continue to bundle shoes until the truck arrives in order to do so.”
