Teen aids shoe charity
Santa Fe teen collects shoes that are sent to disadvantaged people in U.S. and worldwide by nonprofit group Sole4Souls
A teen is collecting new and used shoes to provide footwear for those in need in the U.S. and around the world.
Macy Rose believes one pair of shoes can make a difference in someone’s life — and that 1,000 pairs can help change the world. In areas with poor sanitation systems, shoes can protect people from disease. Shoes also can boost job opportunities and access to education.
Meanwhile, the Santa Fe teen said, “There’s thousands of clothes and shoes being thrown into landfills” every day across the U.S.
A few weeks ago, 15-year-old Macy started collecting new and used shoes for Soles4Souls — a Nashville, Tenn.based
nonprofit dedicated to providing footwear for those in need in the U.S. and around the world, as well as to creating jobs in foreign countries in clothing and shoe distribution.
With less than three months to go before her May 1 deadline, Macy already has collected more than 120 pairs of shoes and intends to reach 1,000.
It might seem like a simple gesture, she said, but she believes it’s part of a powerful effort to aid others, and it can inspire other teens in New Mexico to get involved with community projects.
“I love helping others, but I’m just a small part of a chain reaction,” she said.
Macy — a member of the Cherokee Nation, a United States Tennis Association ambassador and a high school student enrolled in an online education program — said she’s long been involved in volunteer work, from serving with her mother at the Santa Fe Indian Market to organizing free tennis clinics that make the sport more accessible to low-income children.
During a U.S. Tennis Association conference in December in Florida, Macy said, she learned about Soles4Souls and wanted to get involved.
“For kids around the world, they don’t