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