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Mission Highlight
WaterStep
Save Lives by Donating at the Northminster Shoe Drive!
With our 13 years of collecting for WaterStep we have collected 69,747 pounds in total.
HOW? Bring your used shoes…all types of shoes, regardless of condition, as long as they are free of mold and mildew and are wearable. “wearable” means that the sole, buckles and velcro are intact.
WHY? Your donated shoes will be given to WaterStep, a nonprofit organization based in Louisville, KY. WaterStep sells the shoes to an exporter and uses those funds to provide safe water solutions to Third World countries and disaster areas around the world, including the US.
WHY SHOES? The exporter who buys the shoes sells them to local vendors in some of the same countries where water purification projects are done. The local vendor then sells shoes to local customers who need affordable shoes. In this way each donation contributes to micro-enterprise ventures that benefit the economy.
One pair of donated shoes serves multiple purposes:
1: Building the economy of a local community
2: Providing affordable footwear
3: Keeping shoes out of landfills
HOW DOES WATERSTEP HELP?
Through training and WaterStep’s simple technologies whole communities will have access to clean water. These technologies include well installations/Repairs, chlorine generators, rain catchment systems, Water on Wheels carts (mobile mini-water treatment plants). Training is done on those technologies, but also on health and sanitation.
WHY WATER?
Access to clean water is one of the Worlds biggest problems. Most people can just turn their faucet on and have clean water, but 1 in 10 people can’t (about 663 million people). There are many waterborne illnesses, such as cholera, and children are the most vulnerable. A child dies every 60 seconds due to diarrheal diseases per UNICEF’s Child Mortality Report.
In addition water collection takes hours a day, and the burden falls on the woman and girls. This keeps them from going to school, learning skills and taking care of their families. The entire community benefits!
In 2025, WaterStep will not be picking up the shoes, so Northminster will have to transport them to Louisville. If you donate shoes, please consider contributing towards the cost of transporting the shoes.
THANK YOU!
