Share Your Soles

Our mission is simple: To provide gently worn shoes to those in greatest need around the world. Our volunteer network is flourishing. We have touched the hearts of hundreds of thousands, and volunteers in more than 30 states have organized shoe drives and special events providing us the support necessary to put shoes on the soles of children and adults in the most impoverished areas of the world. Share Your Soles is not affiliated with any government, church, political group or other organization. We are a growing group of people who think it's all pretty simple: by giving whatever you can, maybe just an hour or two each month, it's easy to become involved and change the world. Share Your Soles is always looking for people interested in making a difference. Please consider taking a minute to volunteer or contribute online - One dollar buys detergent that washes 1 load (30 pairs of shoes), Ten dollars pays for the packaging of 50 pairs of shoes. Make it a family, school or church project. Take a minute or two to see all the recent media coverage or our travel facts about all the place our soles travel. And remember, it's not all about the shoes.

Our work will be finished someday when every needy person in every distressed corner of the world has a pair of shoes.

In 1999, Mona Purdy traveled through Central America, and saw children painting tar on the soles of their bare feet so they could run a race during their village's festival. She happened to meet an American orthopedic surgeon who was visiting the village. He told Mona that if these children had shoes to wear, there would be a lot less need for him to regularly travel to the region to perform amputations of children's infected limbs.

It was really very simple. When Mona got home, she thought it would be a good idea to go around to some neighborhood schools and ask families to donate any used children's shoes they might have. She collected some and brought them to an orphanage in Honduras. She figured she'd done a good deed and that her work was done. When she was about to leave, one of the workers at the orphanage asked,"When are you coming back?" Coming back? I'm not coming back. This was a one-time thing...

"When are you coming back?"

The question changed Mona's life.

Global • Africa • Asia and South Pacific • Latin America and Caribbean • North America • Argentina • Brazil • Cambodia • Chile • Costa Rica • Ecuador • El Salvador • Ethiopia • Guatemala • Haiti • Honduras • India • Iraq • Jamaica • Kenya • Liberia • Mexico • Nicaragua • Niger • Philippines • Rwanda • Sierra Leone • Sri Lanka • Tanzania • Togo • Uganda • United States of America • Zimbabwe