project680.org

These are actual shoes homeless students were wearing to school. Watch a brief video of Charlene & Trish, who work with homeless students in the FCUSD. Project 680 partners with their office. This is exactly why we focusing on shoes (and hoodies) for our next drive (it’s called the “Head to Toe” drive). Watch below (or here). What do you think?

Details coming soon about the “Head to Toe” (Hoodie & Shoe) Drive coming soon. For now, know we’ll officially collect between October 7 and November 7. We’ll have a finale get-together at Rancho Cordova City Hall on November 7th too.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We are pleased to announce that Starbucks at Capital Village in Rancho Cordova will be providing us with free coffee on the morning of the Project 680 Community Bike Ride. We are grateful to have their support, and we are excited to offer our bike riders free coffee (while it lasts). Thank you Starbucks.

Capital Village Starbucks
3195 Zinfandel Dr.
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
916-852-1893

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Project 680 belongs to all of us. It’s a community effort, and our hope is to get word out to the community about the P680 Shoe Drive. We invite you to partner with us in this cause by linking to the P680 website from your website, blog, Facebook, or any other social networking sites or forums. You are also invited to use any of the images below to link to our website at www.project680.org. If you are not connected yet with us on Facebook, our page is HERE and our group is HERE.    

The direct link to the shoe drive is www.project680.org/projects/shoes/. Please feel free to use the images below for any of your online or flyer needs.

The direct link to the community bike ride is www.project680.org/bike. Please feel free to use the images below for any of your online or flyer needs.

You can also embed the following video on your website, blog, or social networking site. The direct link to the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zJIArBF6A. If you can’t figure out how to embed the video on your site, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

We do have some of the images above in larger sizes also, in case you needed something for a flyer, the office, or any other forum. Call 916-595-3735 or email info@project680.org if you have any questions or further needs.

Thank you so much for helping let others know about the shoe drive. Together we can make a difference.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

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!!!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We are very excited about the Project 680 Community Bike Ride, and we want to invite you and your friends to join us. Even if you haven’t been on a bike for 25+ years, you can do this family-friendly ride, and raise some money for shoes for homeless students in the process.

The Ride: On Saturday, 11/07/09 at 11am, we will ride from Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova to River Bend Park (next to bridge). The entire ride along the paved American River trail will take 15-20 at the most. Riders can go at their own pace and enjoy the company of friends, family, co-workers and even a “Riding for Shoes” Team if you put one together (people at the office, a group of friends, your entire family, church or business maybe).

This is a short bike ride and we welcome all ages and backgrounds. We also welcome folks to meet us at River Bend Park if they wish to not bike at all.

Money Stuff: We suggest a $5.00 donation per rider or a $10 donation for households. You can offer more if you’d like. Riders are encouraged also to get sponsored to ride by family, friends, or co-workers. Involving the people you know and inviting them to participate is a great way to raise support for more shoes. You are also invited to put together a “Riding for Shoes” team for your business, organization or with a group of friends. Riders are welcome to find other creative ways to raise money too and then bring anything you’ve raised on the day of the community ride (whether that’s getting sponsored, selling something on Craigslist, doing a lemonade stand, garage sale, etc…). Our goal is to raise $1,500 during the Project 680 Shoe Drive in order to make 100 pairs of brand new shoes available to local homeless students.

Details: We’ll meet in the parking lot of Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova at 2197 Chase Drive (in the FREE parking lot next to Cordova High School). Come at 10:15am if you’d like some free coffee, orange juice and snacks. Bring a sack lunch if you’d like because we’ll hang out at the park for a while when we get there. When we’re done, we’ll head back to the parking lot at Hagan Park.

This is going to be great fun and a fantastic and creative way to get shoes on the feet of local homeless students. 100% of proceeds will go directly to shoes for homeless students. We accept cash, checks, and even Payless Shoe Source gift cards. Call 916-595-3735 or email info@project680.org for details.

See our Shoe Drive / Bike Ride video on YouTube.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

There are many ways to partner with us as we endeavor to raise funds to purchase 100 pairs of brand new shoes for homeless students in the FCUSD. And now there is yet one more opportunity to support the Project 680 Shoe Drive. We are very excited to partner with www.BottlecapMagnets.com to offer some original Project 680 bottle cap magnets to the community. These are perfect for the fridge, office or even a gift, and they’ll be available in a matter of weeks for as long as supplies last. We will soon unveil more details about these magnets, what they’ll look like, how to get one, as well as many other creative ways to be involved in the Shoe Drive. For now we wanted you to be in “the know” about this latest development. Woo-hoo!!!
 
To learn more about Bottlecap Magnets, please visit www.BottlecapMagnets.com or their Facebook Fan Page

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The Grapevine Independent is running the following article in tomorrow’s newspaper. We appreciate very much a mention of the upcoming shoe drive. Thank you Grapevine!!! Also, welcome to any Grapevine readers who may have found your way to our website after reading the article. If you have any questions or ideas, just let us know.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Our community meeting tonight was fantastic. Thank you everyone who participated in discussion and helped to refine our focus and mission for the next couple of months. Thank you also to our gracious host, Gold River Carpets & Floors, for opening up their business as a meeting place.

A Focus on Shoes:  We have decided to focus on supporting a shoe drive for local homeless students. The District Liaison for Homeless Services has let us know that new shoes are a very relevant need for students, and so it makes sense for us to be a part of something like this. The shoe drive will take place in December 2009 and we will be communicating very soon about the details of how everything will work as well as some exciting and creative opportunities for community involvement. Our goal will be to raise $1,500, which in effect will provide 100 pairs of shoes for local homeless students. Does this sound good to you?

The Boutique Idea:  We had previously kicked around the idea of doing a shopping boutique for students on the same day of the shoe drive, but after conversation with the District Liaison for Homeless Services and several core Project 680 members, we thought it best to focus exclusively on shoes. A shoe drive is something we are excited about, and to be honest, it’s a bit of a relief to not be taking on a boutique also since that would have been a huge undertaking to effectively pull off. Let’s not burn out or overcommit, okay!!! 

Biking for Shoes:  One more exciting announcement is that we will be putting together a community bike ride at some point in the next two months (before Thanksgiving). We will ask each rider (or household) to donate $5.00 or get sponsored to ride. This will be a very fun and creative way to raise funds for shoes for homeless kids. This event will be a minimal ride in terms of mileage and will take place somewhere along the American River trails most likely (it’ll be safe being off the streets). This will be a very family-friendly event and all ages will be encouraged to participate.

Ideas are flowing, so keep checking back to see how things evolve. Our hope is to see many residents, organizations, churches and businesses find creative ways to participate in the upcoming shoe drive. We are looking for a large amount of people to team up together in this very practical cause. We encourage you to consider how your talents, passions and abilities could fit in to the shoe drive.

May we find ways to be intentional about blessing local homeless students. May we be creative in coming months. May we have a whole lot of fun as we do what we do.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Okay everyone, get your calendars and a pen. We plan to meet on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 6:30pm at a location TBA (we already have a local business owner who has offered her place). We invite local community members to come to this meeting and be a part of the vision that is unfolding for the Project 680 family in the Fall.

At this meeting we are going to brainstorm some ideas and get creative about an opportunity we have to support a shoe drive for homeless students in the FCUSD. There is also a strong possibility of putting together a boutique where some of our target students can do some shopping for themselves (in December) after they get new shoes. What we do will really come down to the level of buy-in from community members and what we decide to move forward with.

Do any of these ideas resonate with you? There is so much potential, so let’s unpack the vision a little, kick around some thoughts and figure out what we can do as a team.

More details coming soon.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!