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June 12, 2008 - The Times-Picayune
Flip-flops given away in program
By Lynne Jensen
Flip-flop sandals made in China for a buck a pair may not set feet to dancing, but they put smiles on the faces of several dozen children at the St. John the Baptist Headstart program in Central City last week. That number of smiles will increase dramatically as 65,000 pairs of flip-flops are given to children across the Gulf Coast by Soles4Souls, a nonprofit relief organization with a simple concept: "We get shoes and give them away."
"Let me see your foot," Soles4Souls founder and former footwear-industry executive Wayne Elsey said to a child after dropping to one knee to be face-to-face.
"What's your name, buddy?" Elsey asked another boy.
"Come here, sweetheart," he said to a girl.
A la Prince Charming, Elsey, 43, handed flip-flops to 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds as they giggled with glee. The shoes will come in handy as they swim and play at summer camps, such as those sponsored by the New Orleans Recreation Department.
Many parents are struggling to buy food and flip-flops are "an unaffordable luxury," said Candace Washington of Second Harvest.
Elsey's effort to help New Orleans families started after Katrina hit and the city flooded. Based in Nashville, Elsey issued a challenge to companies and individuals to help people along the shattered Gulf Coast. That led to more than 750,000 pairs of shoes gathered for a relief effort, which grew to more than 1 million pairs of shoes for people in need.
The idea for Soles4Souls began with the television image of a single shoe that washed up on the beach after the Asian tsunami in 2004.
"The vision of the lonely shoe and the immense amount of suffering that it implied haunted me as I sat on my comfortable couch," Elsey said. He began calling other footwear executives and collected 250,000 pairs of shoes for tsunami victims.
Soles4Souls has become Elsey's passion. He left his business position to devote his time to the nonprofit he incorporated in 2006. Soles4Souls has grown from three employees to 22 and has given away more than 3 million new and slightly worn pairs of shoes to victims of disasters, people living in poverty and people in need of a fresh start.
Elsey's visit to New Orleans was part of "Barefoot Week," during which his group donated more than 325,000 pairs of new shoes to people in New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami, and the Hopi and Navajo Indian reservations near Flagstaff, Ariz.
The week helped draw attention to the more than 300 million children worldwide who have never owned a pair of shoes, Elsey said.
"Thank you for taking care of the population who needs the help," Gloria Cabrera, director of Early Childhood Education Services for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, said to Elsey.
"You're providing more than a pair of shoes," Washington said. "You're providing hope."
For information about Soles4Souls, visit www.giveshoes.org on the Web or call (866) 521-SHOE.
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