House of Bread | Photo from Indeed.com
Earlier this week, a non-profit shoe and sock donation organization teamed with Wright State University’s compassion team to hold a volunteer-based event located at the House of Bread to aid those in need.
Event
According to the Shoes 4 The Shoeless webpage, the organization provides new shoes and socks to children in need in the Southwest region of Ohio.
WSU’s Compassion in Action organization attended the event, providing additional sets of hands to distribute shoes and socks. The treasurer of Compassion in Action, Logan Cummings, described the organization’s purpose.
“Compassion in Action is a volunteer organization here at Wright State itself. So, our goal is to reach out to other organizations and local charities and ask them if they need help with stuff because that’s kind of our whole thing,” Cummings said.
Cummings, along with President Kaitlyn Miller, both gave a helping hand during this event.
According to Miller, the event included a simple process of sitting with a child or adult in need, sizing feet and bringing back two pairs of shoes to choose from. Miller provided insight about the experience.
“[The kids] feel like they need to give something back, like they’re confused. Like, ‘why are you giving me shoes for free,’ kind of thing. So, that is really eye-opening,” Miller said.
According to Cummings, there is a very large need in the United States and within the local community that people do not realize. This need and experience is surprising for the treasurer to witness.
According to the United States Census Bureau, in Ohio in 2021, there were 1.5 million people below poverty – amounting to 13.4% – while the national poverty rate sat at 12.8%.
How to get involved
There are many volunteer opportunities around the local area and within one’s own community. For student’s searching for an organization to join and delve into the work of helping others, Compassion In Action is one of many choices.
“We always post [events] on Engage and just have it open to all students here too, and they can just sign up through there,” Miller said.
For those who want to leap right into the non-profit organization S4TS, Cummings mentions that the group welcomes volunteers. Students can find information on the S4TS webpage or the Compassion in Action Engage page.
“Once you have that volunteer time, you see what you can do to help,” Cummings said.
