Yep... That's Wayne Elsey

Ok.... so I'm finally getting a few minutes to update and post some of what's been happening. F I N A L L Y.... I'm TAKING the time because it's important to me.

Wayne is the Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls and I had the great opportunity to meet with him briefly on his way home recently from a speaking engagement.

At first I was a little floored that someone who had a vision for others to not be shoeless wanted to meet me. Then I realized I'm just like him. We want to see things happen and see people get off of the couch and do something. Not just talk about it. It takes courage, faith and willingness to take a risk and do something that hasn't been done before. Those are the traits that I see in both of us. Being willing to take a chance and if it fails well then at least we tried. If it succeeds than what a wonderful thing to make the lives of others better.

At his suggestion I called Mrs. Busch, Wayne's 10th grade english teacher who he writes about in his book, Almost Isn't Good Enough. It had been raining non-stop for days. Streets were flooding out right and left, schools were having a hard time starting due to electrical outages and well I think I was just feeling a little down so I decided to give her a call. What a great woman. So full of energy and spunk. I loved having the conversation with her and hope to go meet her one day soon.

This is me and Sean Lewis. Sean is the Faith Engagement Manager at the Soles4Souls Headquarter office in Tennessee. In other words, he works with a lot of churches and religious organizations that want to get involved with Soles4Souls.

Which brings me to another important topic. One of the questions I continually get asked in doing my shoe drive is "what church or religious organization are you with?". Soles4Souls has NO religious affiliation which is one of the reasons why I like them. I'm not against religion I simply try to keep things simple. Being shoeless doesn't care about your color, race, religion or beliefs. It's a lot like hunger, aids and cancer. When you don't have shoes on your feet, you don't have shoes on your feet. The other thing that comes to mind is that out of the group that went to Africa, we were all people that wanted to do something for the good of all people. Imagine me with 20 other people and not really knowing anyone else. After our first 12.5hr flight and definately by the end of the trip it was sad to say goodbye to some of the great people I got to spend 10 days with.

On that note, I'm going to go collect some more filled boxes and take them to the warehouse.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hugs

Rachel

The Warehouse

Where have I been at?

At the warehouse of course! Rubberbanding and tying shoes.

I've been very busy collecting and compiling shoes. Working with men, women, and children boxing and moving shoes.

This pile of shoes all belong to the kid size pile.

To the left is a pile of single shoes... looking for a mate. Believe it or not many people in the world only have one leg.

This is where I hope to say good bye to all the shoes I've collected. The truck loading bay.

The empty warehouse. It's always good to have a before picture. The boxes were donated by the Tasty T-Shirt company located next door.

Tasty T-Shirt Company is also providing shrink wrap and want to be there to help load the truck when it comes.

Thank you Tasty T-Shirt Company!!! You are all AWESOME!!!

I have been very busy going around and talking with a lot of schools and picking up shoes at the various gyms and village centers. For those checking this blog, just know I'm running about a day or two behind in getting back to people. There are a lot of schools in Howard County.

I continue to see the joyful faces of the children we visited in orphanages that were so eager to have someone come and spend just a few hours with them. In my mind I continually see little ones offering me their bowl of porage or maize in exchange for shoes. I miss my little people and want them all to know I'm working hard here trying to make their world a better place.

A shout out to Harriet Baker. She is collecting shoes from Tennessee and sending them directly to the warehouse there. If anyone else wants to do that, let me know. Harriet.... if I could give you a big hug I would. It is my hope after the shoe drive to continue with the Kigoma Project and make pillowcase dresses for the girls in the orphanages that we visited who are in need of clothes.

The kindness of others continues to fog my mind on a repeated basis. When I hug someone these days... it's a hug that I mean. The human contact. The getting off the couch and doing something not just talking about doing it. It cost me nothing to smile and someone and somedays that's all I have to give and yet... it may make another persons day to have a complete stranger simply smile at them.

Ok... being the Mommy of three that I am I have to put on my "homework hat" and go figure out some geometery, cook dinner and get to the PTA meeting at school.

Hugs to you all,

Rachel

Hurricane Irene & Schools

Hi Friends,

Just a short post. I've been really really REALLY busy with shoes.

We survived hurricane Irene. Lost power at 11pm on Saturday evening and had none on Sunday until 9:30pm. We lost some lunch meat and a few frozen peas....

We gained some good family game time, everyone out doing clean-up of their yards, an ice cream party galore, a glow stick party in the evening and some really great grilling from neighbors. Love those peas!!!!

The warehouse that has been donated to me was fine and so was our home. No structural damage at either location.

I've been busy working with getting many Howard County Schools and churches on board with collecting. I'm also looking forward to working with the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts. I'm inundated with shoes and quite frankly... I LOVE IT.

Just the other day, Danny from the Tasty T-Shirt company offered to help me out with pallets, boxes and shrink wrap. I made those famous chocolate chip cookies for him today as a thank you. Since the oven is working now... I can do that and I really appreciate his pleasant attitude and willingness to help show me the how and why of a warehouse.

So... I'm a busy woman. No school today for the first day of school due to lack of electricity.

Please keep others who are still without power and their needs not being met in your thoughts. Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Hugs
Rachel

A Slide Show I Put Together After My Trip with Soles4Souls

A Deep Breath Of Life

Ok... so much has happened within the last 24 hours. I am completely amazed at how sharing my story and believing in a purpose is changing people. When I first went to Africa with Soles4Souls to put shoes on children in orphanages.... I thought it was to see the world and be able to give it and others something back. Little did I know this was going to be the course or path I would be on. The shoe drive has taken off in leaps and bounds. So many people are telling me what an inspiration I am and all I did was listen to my heart and not my head. Lately, my heart has been telling me to take deep breaths and realize... I am living the dreams I have had. To be able to give.

People are reaching out from all areas. I'm trying to tweet and well... I'm trying. I tried to put that graph/meter on my blog and well... it doesn't look right either... but... I'm NOT giving up on technology... nope, nope, nope.... I am not going to let it get the best of me.

For tonight let me just say... I made the time to take my daughter and her friend to the new American Girl store in Tyson's Corner for her 10th birthday. She smiled and laughed and took her doll as well and we were able to have dinner there. Something we didn't think we would be able to do. At the end of it all, she was bubbling over with joy and looked at me and said... "Mom, that was really cool. Thanks." It's moments like those that I will cherrish for years and moments I hope I can recall when she's learning how to drive or going out on a date.

My heart does not lie to me. Therefore, I listen to it. I am sincerely grateful for the outpouring of support and love that I have gotten in attempting to collect 50,000 pairs of shoes. For tonight, I'm gonna lay my body down, take a deep breath of life, and thank the power greater than myself for giving me another day to be a positive part of the world.

Hugs
Rachel

Columbia woman hopes to collect 50,000 pairs of shoes for African children

Columbia woman hopes to collect 50,000 pairs of shoes for African children

50,000 Pairs of Shoes

That's a lot of shoes!!!

That's the goal I have set to attain by end of October. Once I can educate myself more on how to put my flier on this blog I'll add that and all those that are working with me in achieving my goals. I hope to also add a thermometer to show where I'm at in collection. I can tell you the recipe from the back of the bag to make chocolate chip cookies because I've made them so many times. My blogging skills are no where near as good as my cookies taste. So bear with me. I need to get the Queen of Blogging over again to help me with this. She is a whole entire different blog about how much she has been a friend to me and what a WONDERFUL job she is doing at raising her beautiful, compassionate and caring children. Back to shoes...

So far I have many many many people involved. I'd like to give a shout out to the following:
Most importantly, my Mom for giving me compassion, patience and love that she did. My Mom made me the person I am today. I know there were many times when she would have liked to as she put it... "take me out of this world..." but she didn't.

My husband Bill and our three children, Stephen, Grace and Sarah. They continually walk over piles of shoes in my house and give me a constant source of energy, entertainment and love.

Guy Guzzone and EZ Storage on Route 1 for getting and donating warehouse space to house all these shoes until the end of October.
To Father Miller and Denise Stanley at St. Bernadine's off of Edmondson's Avenue in Baltimore
To Emily Wofford, Tina Ferguson, and Bill Schneider - my cheering section
To Emily Aubrey-Frock for the countless collection of shoes in Towson Baltimore
To Msgr Luca at St. Louis Church in Clarksville, follow the message in my heart, not my head.
To My sister Cathy who helped me design my flier and continually entertains my children with her antics
Michelle James for her sharing her insight and expertise and experience with compassion and patience.
The NAACP Howard County Youth Council
The Columbia Village Association, Carol Wasser and the Village Managers for allowing me to place a drop off box in their office.
Our Pediatricians, Pediatric Associates in Ellicott City.
The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland
Nicole Langford at Soles4Souls Headquarters in Nashville, TN for her guidance and laughter.

There are so many people who have helped me and those are just the few that are on my mind today. I'm sure I've forgotten someone, but I COMPLETELY believe in the "village" concept. I couldn't do this without a lot of help from a lot of people.

An article will be coming out in this Thursday's Columbia Flier and Howard County Times with more information on the drive/collection.

Is a collection of 50,000 pairs of shoes possible? I don't know, but I'm about to find out and I hope I can say at the end of October.... "WOW WHAT A RIDE!!!"

Hugs
Rachel