We received an email today from a man who wants to help support the Project 680 Shoe Drive. Instead of donating cash, a check, or a Payless Shoe Source gift card, he is getting creative about how to pull together some funds to support local homeless students (and we like that). He attached a photo of a pair of brand new shoes he is selling on e-Bay. All proceeds from the sale will be directed toward the P680 Shoe Drive.
This is a really great idea, and it could work well with any marketable product, and even on other websites like Craigslist. It’s nice too because sometimes we have things laying around the house that are valuable to someone else, but all they do is collect dust at home. Like the saying goes, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”
NOTE: Some of you may be asking, “why doesn’t this guy just give the shoes to Project 680 so that we can turn and give them to a needy homeless student?” Good question. Basically, there are two reasons why this won’t work: 1) Both he and I firmly agreed that the color of the shoes may be too closely affiliated with gang-related colors, and that is not something we want to promote for students. Anyone else think that too?; 2) In the past, the District Liaison for Homeless Services has received donations of new shoes, which is a generous gesture, but basically these donated shoes typically sit off to the side because they are not relevant in style or size. Homeless students enjoy picking out brand new shoes anyway because they have their own sense of style. Usually donated shoes do not fit right or they are just not up to today’s fashion standards. Additionally, it is worth noting that Payless Shoe Source, the local vendor for the shoe drive, offers a “buy one pair, get the second pair 1/2 off,” which is a tremendous savings. Moreover, Payless also offers the shoes to the District Liaison for Homeless Services with NO SALES TAX. In essence, this ends up being a tremendous savings for buying a high quantity of shoes, but also a real blessing for the students because they have a very large supply of shoes to choose from. Does that make sense?
By the way, the man who is selling these shoes on e-Bay was a really good sport about this story being posted here (we just wanted you to know because we won’t be posting stories about interactions we have with everyone, especially without permission).
Kudos to a creative man for his idea to support the shoe drive. Way to go!!!
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