Kailey Whitney and Clarisse Leppien, members of Chandler Service Club’s Flower Girl program, were so inspired by the efforts of Sport Chalet and Soles for to get shoes to the earthquake victims in Haiti that they decided to organize their own shoe drive.
For a full week, the Corona del Sol seniors collected new and slightly used shoes—708 pair in all.
“We never expected to get this many shoes,” said Clarisse.
The philanthropy project is part of the Flower Girl’s “Project Priority,” a community service project that each girl is expected to complete during her program year.
The girls got busy using their social networking skills, contacting friends, family and neighbors announcing the shoe drive. They even partnered with their former elementary school, Kyrene del Cielo, distributing fliers and setting up collection boxes throughout the school. Both Kailey and Clarisse felt overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.
“It was great seeing our community come together for Haiti,” said Kailey.
Clarisse and Kailey collected shoes from Cielo, their neighbors, their churches and their friends at Young Life, National Charity League, Inc., East Valley Chapter, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the other Flower Girls.
The girls filled two SUV’s with shoes and delivered them to the Sport Chalet at Tempe Marketplace. The store manager and employees were definitely surprised by the number of shoes when the unloading began.
Kailey and Clarisse want to thank everyone that contributed shoes for making this project such a success.
