the 07/23/2008

Teen turns love for shoes into charity

Teen turns love for shoes into charity

Like any other modern teen, Alexandra Yesian is long on passion andshort on time. A junior at Gunn High School, Yesian is also asynchronized swimmer and spends more than four hours a day in thepool.

But like many of her idealistic peers, Alexandra, 16, has also feltthe call to give back to the community. At the urging of hermother, she launched a project that speaks to one of her own loves— shoes.

Under the moniker "Got Extra Shoes?" Alexandra's project gathersshoes for donation to East Palo Alto's Ecumenical Hunger Program(EHP). The nonprofit distributes food, clothing and furniture tofamilies based on need.

"Everyone needs a good fitting pair of shoes, and I love shoes,"Alexandra said. "There are girls that collect prom dresses andbackpacks with school supplies; I wanted to do somethingdifferent."

Apparently, a lot of people have extra shoes lying around. Lastweek, Alexandra and her mother, Charlotte Reissmann, delivered some140 pairs to Ecumenical Hunger Program.

There were tall, black boots, strappy sequined sandals, slightlydated pumps, trendy patterned sneakers and one particularlyoutrageous pair of gold-and-black snake skin loafers — and anassortment of old running shoes. All were packed in the back ofReissmann's green Subaru, each pair nestled neatly together andspilling out of the cardboard fruit flats stacked almost to theceiling.

It took at least six trips to unload them.

Stories of young people organizing charitable campaigns have beencropping up with ever-increasing frequency. Local teens havegathered bikes to ship to Africa or raise money to combat malaria.In other parts of the nation, a 13-year-old from New Jersey starteda charity to help elderly people struggling to pay for in-homecare; a Pennsylvania teen has been organizing food drives for fiveyears. In Tennessee, a group of teens collect CDs and DVDs to sendto U.S. troops overseas.

Collecting old shoes is not a new idea; Sole Responsibility hasbeen sending donated shoes to Africa since 2005 and Soles4Soulsshipped to Southeast Asia after the 2004 Tsunami and to Louisianaafter Hurricane Katrina. Old athletic shoes can also be recycled,ground up and made into tracks, fields, courts and other surfaces.

"There are people who are sending shoes to Africa and SouthAmerica," Alexandra said, "but I wanted them to stay local."

As if on cue, a young man and a small boy at Ecumenical HungerProgram shyly approached to inquire if the shoes were beingdonated. The man wanted the pair of child's size 12 army camouflagesneakers for the boy.

After an awkward exchange about how EHP's rules work with Reissmanndelicately explaining that she couldn't just give him the shoes,the man walked off with the smiling boy in hand.

"It's sweet that people are asking for the shoes," Reissmann said."It shows that there's a need and desire for them."

Debbie Estebanez, EHP's receptionist, beamed at the prospect of somany donated shoes.

"A lot of people will be very thankful," she said. "We have allsorts of people who need all sorts of things, so they'll be used.And with back to school, everybody's requesting shoes and schoolclothes."

A couple of trips into the unloading effort, Alexandra pulled out apaper bag full of athletic cleats with varying degrees of grassstains.

"We made sure to get athletic shoes like cleats," Reissmann said."JLS (Middle School) had a clothes closet, and I saw kids rummagingthrough it, looking for soccer shoes. It can be difficult for afamily to afford things that you don't use all the time."

One pair of the cleats was Alexandra's, left over from her verybrief foray into lacrosse. Trying to be a good role model, shestarted her collection by going through her own closet and that ofher mother's. Then, about a month ago, she printed up signsquerying "Got Extra Shoes?" stapled them to large paper bags andbegan pounding the pavement of her South Palo Alto neighborhood.

"A lot of the shoes are from people on the few blocks around ourhouse," Alexandra said. "I also asked my dad and brother to takebags with signs on them, and we got quite a few from theirco-workers."

Reissmann has been instrumental as a liaison while her daughter'sat swimming practice and as transport, driving her Subaru all overthe Palo Alto area picking up shoes from neighbors, friends andsometimes perfect strangers.

Talking to someone on the phone the other day, she mentionedAlexandra's venture.

"I've never met this woman; she's in San Jose," Reissmann said."She's bringing her shoes to Santa Clara; we're meeting half way,and I'll pick them up."

The success of Got Extra Shoes? has inspired Alexandra to continuethe effort.

"I didn't know how big the response would be," she said, "but whenI saw the excitement, I thought this could continue for a while.There are so many shoes out there that people in this area have intheir closets."

At this point, Reissmann noted with relief that Alexandra would begetting her driver's license soon and would be able to handle thetransportation herself. Alexandra smiled, rolling her eyes slightlyand carried the last box of shoes in the warehouse.

To contact Alexandra Yesian's project, e-mailgotextrashoes@gmail.com.