'Let them walk in our shoes'

In order to truly understand a person's journey, you must walk in their shoes. But soldiers report that the impoverished children in Iraq and Afghanistan often have no shoes at all.

This knowledge has sparked a community-wide shoe collection. For the past three years, TV 13 has encouraged its viewers to donate new and gently-used shoes for children in Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S. This year's program was an overwhelming success, as it gathered more than twice the amount of shoes collected last year.

Members of TV 13 and state legislators gathered late last week to ship more than 100 large boxes of shoes to Kuwait, where they will be sorted and sent by ground troops to individual communities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other packages of shoes and school supplies are on their way to an Apache Indian reservation in Arizona. More than 200 children will benefit from our region's generosity.

Hundreds of pairs of shoes also stayed within the local community. Local churches and organizations which accepted shoes for distribution to area children include Bushkill Outreach, Bushkill; Church Women United, Stroudsburg; First Baptist Church, Lansford; and Bethany Evangelical Church, Lehighton.

Altogether, more than 5,600 pairs of shoes were distributed. This is more than double last year's efforts, when the program collected 2,500 pairs, noted coordinator Marie Johns, an anchor with TV 13.

"It was a huge undertaking," said Johns. "The reaction from local people has been awesome."

Due to the sheer size of this year's project, the shoes were stored, sorted and packaged at the Lehighton Armory. The Lehighton National Guard also provided manpower and vehicles to pick up shoes at each of the 20 local schools taking part in the program.

When it came time to package the shoes, students from four school districts and members of the Panther Valley JROTC joined in, completing the task in just 2 1/2 hours. In past years, it's taken weeks for employees at TV 13 to sort and package donations in their spare time.

"This year was absolutely wonderful, because we had the help of the Lehighton Armory," she said. "Those kids (from the schools and JROTC) were awesome. It was organized chaos, but it worked."

Johns worked closely with George Duell, a Freedom Team Salute Ambassador based in Palmerton, to locate troops overseas who could distribute the packages.

"This is a super partnership between the community, the military, and Channel 13," said Duell, thanking Johns and co-workers Jillian Kuntzman and Kim Bell for their efforts. He noted that these packages will be hand-delivered by soldiers, allowing them to meet and befriend residents and earn the trust of the local community.

"We are helping them to stay safe," said Johns. "Making friends in a foreign country is very, very important."

Johns was also pleased that the program could donate shoes to local children, in addition to children overseas. This is the first year that "Let Them Walk in Our Shoes" has offered shoes to local churches and organizations. It seemed fitting to do so, because a large portion of the donations came from children at local schools.

"It all started with a kindergarten student outgrowing a pair of shoes. From that little child to TV 13 viewers, it has been astonishing how much this has grown," she said. "We have a lot of local need."

Johns was also happy to highlight the efforts of local churches and volunteer organizations.

"They quietly serve the community. You don't really realize what they do for the community until you start asking questions and working with them," she said.

As legislators and members of the National Guard began loading packages onto the shipping truck, Johns gave a special thanks for the State Representatives and Senators who contributed to the program's shipping costs. Speaker of the House Keith McCall, State Senator David Argall, and State Representatives Michael Carroll, John Siptroth, and Julie Harhart all worked to fund mailing costs. Together they contributed more than $750 toward the cost of shipping the shoes overseas.

"Without the support of our Legislators, we won't be able to ship nearly as many packages," she said.

This week's send-off may mark the end of the third annual "Let Them Walk in Our Shoes" campaign, but Johns is already thinking ahead to next year. It will take a lot of effort and cooperation to keep the program running and expanding, but she hopes the community, TV 13 and the National Guard are up to the challenge.

"We're hoping it will continue," she said.