MySpace.com - Share Your Soles Children's Organization - 101 - Female - Alsip, Illinois

Share Your Soles is a non-profit organization 501(c)(3) That began in 1999. It all began when Mona Purdy went to Guatemala and ran a local running race and noticed that there were young kids putting black stuff on the soles of their feet. She later found out that they were putting hot tar on the soles of their feet so they could run the local running race, just to bring home a small trophy. After returning home,she immediatly started collecting shoes from neighbors, friends, local schools and churches. The shoes stacked up in the garage and eventually moved into her house. As time went on, more and more people came into our lives as well as the shoes piling in more then ever.

Our volunteer network is flourishing. We have touched the hearts of hundreds of thousands, and have volunteers in more than 27 states that have organized shoe drives and special events providing us the support necessary to put shoes on the soles of children and adults in the most impoverished areas of the world. These states include:(California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Virginia).

We outgrew the garage. We outgrew our first warehouse. We went through several washing machines and the shoes keep coming and the need keeps growing. We are now on our 5th warehouse, a 120,000 square foot location which was generously donated to us from Centerpoint Properties.

Share Your Soles is not affiliated with any government, church, political group or other organization. We are a growing group of people who think it's all pretty simple: by giving whatever you can, maybe just an hour or two each month, it's easy to become involved and change the world.

Locations Our Shoes Have Traveled

United States
California
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Minnesota
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Dakota
New York
Texas
Virginia

Mexico

Central America
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua

South America
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Ecuador
Peru

Europe
Lithuania

Asia
Afghanistan
Cambodia
Sri Lanka

Africa
Liberia
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Zimbabwe

Middle East
Iraq

Caribbean
Bahamas
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Jamaica

Email me your information and we will keep you updated with our current events. To join just copy and paste the information below and message me:

We are always looking for help and our work is simple!! It provides a tremendous service opportunity for those who want to do volunteer work, but just aren't sure how to get started. Our volunteers range from grade school children to teens to senior citizens which is including groups such as church group, school group, Boy Scouts troop, Girl Scouts troop, sports groups etc. We wash every pair of athletic shoes and we polish every pair of dress shoes. The shoes are then sorted, boxed, and labeled. Boots and winter shoes are sent to Indian Reservations and Appalachia. Sandals and athletic shoes are sent to Central America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Dress shoes and school shoes? They are sent to anywhere the children need shoes to attend school.
Our warehouse hours are Monday-Saturday from 10-3 and Teusdays from 10-8pm.

* Become A Sponsor *

We never would have gotten this far if it weren’t for our sponsors! Our major Sponsors are American Airlines, Center Point Properties, FedEx Global Worldwide, and Piper Rudnick, but we are always looking for more!
In order to continue and grow, we are in need of sponsorship to cover our rising costs for utilities, office, warehouse and shipping supplies and expenses. We ask you to please consider becoming a sponsor to our incredible organization. The benefits of making a monetary donation to us will insure that the mission continues!!
The Sponsors would provide:
- A donation of $2,500 to Share Your Soles
- Event promotion that will include an e-mail newsletter, web-site mention, print displays, and customer bag stuffing.
- Merchandise and/or gift certificate to use as awards and raffle prizes

Sponsors will receive the following benefits:
- On-site presence and brand exposure
- Mention in event marketing (print, public relations, publications, and Share Your Soles website recognition)
- Logo on the event t-shirt
- Announcer mentions
- Post event party for sponsors
- All contributions are fully tax deductible

Please contact us and let us know if you are interested!! Our Phone number is (708)448-4469

* Make A Donation *

You can donate online Here or through mail. -- $1 buys a gallon of bleach to sanitize 100 pairs of shoes and $10 pays for shipping materials for 200 pairs of shoes. Make check payable to Share Your Soles and mail to

Share Your Soles
11701 S. Central
Alsip, IL 60803-3422

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Mona And Family♥

* Donate Shoes *

The shoes we give to these children may be the only shoes they will ever receive in their life, so we want to make them last. We ask for new or very gently worn shoes. We collect winter boots, Cowboy boots, athletic shoes, canvas shoes, sandals, school shoes, Roller Blades, Slippers, Boots, ice skates, spikes, wrestling shoes, dress shoes, casual shoes, and infants. The shoes can be dropped off at our warehouse or you can look up a closer location:

Drop Sites

Share Your Soles
11701 S. Central Avenue
Alsip, Illinois 60803

Califnornia
Fleet Feet
32411 Golden Lantern Suite H
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
949-488-3356

Santa Barbara Running Company
110 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
805-899-8802

Illinois
Chicago & Vicinity
Fleet Feet Sports
210 W. North Ave
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 587-3338

Fleet Feet Sports
4555 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 271-3338

Momentum
2001 N. Clybourn Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 525-7866

New Balance Chicago
2369 N. Clark
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 348-1787

Running Away
1634 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 395-2929

Universal Soles
3052 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 868-0893

Northern Suburbs

Runners High
121 W. Campbell
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
847-670-9255

Dick Pond Athletics
203 NW Highway
Barrington, IL 60010
(847) 842-1753

The Running Depot
30-E N. Williams St.
Crystal Lake, IL 60014
PH (815) 788-9755
FAX (815) 788-9389

Dick Pond Athletics
124 N.York St.
Elmhurst, IL 60126
630-832-SOUL

Fleet Feet Sports
124. E. Schiller St.
Elmhurst, IL. 60126
(630) 559-3338

Murphy's Fit
513 Dempster St.
Evanston, IL 60621
(847) 869-4101

New Balance North Shore
610 Central Avenue Suite 169
Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 266-8323

Running Ambition
775 W. Main St.
Lake Zurich, IL 60047
(847) 540-8866

Running Right
1770 1st Street
Highland Park, IL 60035
(847) 432-2884

Dick Pond Athletics 927 South Roselle Road (Kingsport Plaza) Schaumburg, IL 60193 (847) 985-9720

Western Suburbs

Dick Pond Athletics
26 W. 321 St. Charles RD
Carol Stream, IL 60188
(630) 665-3316

Dick Pond Athletics
2783 Maple
Lisle, IL 60532
(603) 357-6884

Naperville Running Company
20 W. Jefferson Ave.
Naperville, IL 60540
(630) 357-1900

Endure It!
504 West Fifth Ave.
Naperville, IL 60563
(877) 363-8748

The Competitive Foot
Western Springs
102 N. Marion St.
Oak Park, IL
60310 – 1005
(708) 524-0030

Dick Pond Athletics
303 N. 2nd St.
St. Charles, IL 60463
(630) 587-0745

New Balance
17 W. 490 22nd St.
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
(630) 782-6730

The Competitive Foot
814 Hill Grove Ave
Western Springs, IL 60558
(708) 246-5520

Running Ambition
134 Front Street
Wheaton, IL 60187
(603) 784-8850

Southern Suburbs

Dick Pond Athletics
16183 Weber Rd.
Crest Hill, IL 60435
815-588-0908

Human Race Sports
15148 South LaGrange Road
Orland Park, IL 60462
(708) 349-4724

New Balance
16131 La Grange Rd.
Orland Park, IL. 60462
(708)364-8391

Morraine Valley Community College
Fitness Center
9000 W. College Pkwy.
Palos Hills, IL 60465

Palos Courts
12221 Ridgeland Avenue
Palos Heights, IL 60463
(708)349-9100

Running for Kicks
7158 W. 127th St.
Palos Heights, IL 60463
(708) 448-9200

Palos Park Village Hall
8901 West 123rd Street
Palos Park, IL 60464
(708) 448-2700

Indiana

New Balance
757 E. 81st Ave.
Merrillville, IN 46410
219-769-7300

Idaho

The Elephant's Perch
280 East Ave.
Box 178
Ketchum, ID 83340
(208) 726-3497

Ohio

Fleet Feet Sports Cincinnati
9525 Kenwood Road Suite 42
Cincinnati, OH 45242
(513) 793-8383

Pennsylvania

Elite Runners & Walkers
Chiodo's Plaza
5992 Steubenville
Pike McKees Rocks, PA 15136
(412) 490-0881
West of Pittsburgh near Airport

Elite Runners & Walkers
Walnut Hollow Plaza
4873 William Penn Highway
Murrysville, PA 15668
(724) 733-2101
East of Pittsburgh just off exit 5 of Turnpike

New York Super Runners Shop
355 New York Avenue
Huntington, NY 11743
(631) 549-3006

* Conduct Your Own Shoe Drive *

We need people to organize shoe drives within their communities. You can collect shoes, sort them, and clean them. Please contact us and let us know if you’re interested.

* Buy Shoes *

We do have shoe sales with the shoes we cannot ship, which we are planning a huge Blow out shoe sale in August!!!

We are selling shoes on Ebay!!! We get around 1,200 shoes a week to send to impoverished countries throughout the world. Those shoes then need to be cleaned, polished, laced, sorted by size and type, and then boxed and shipped. However, we do get shoes that we can't send out of the country including high heels and any and all shoes not suitable for everyday wear. High heels are not allowed for various reasons including that in all the countries we ship to have gravel roads. So, to make need of them we are selling the inappropriate shoes on ebay and the profits we make go towards washing the shoes, shoe polish and shipping fees. Check out our Ebay

What if Share Your Soles earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Well, now we can!
GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates half its revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. You use it just as you would any search engine, and it's powered by Yahoo!, so you get great results.
Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Share Your Soles as the charity you want to support. Just 500 of us searching four times a day will raise about $7300 in a year without anyone spending a dime! And, be sure to spread the word!
Its amazing and its such an easy way to donate! It's the same as using Google or Yahoo search so all you have to do is go to www.goodsearch.com and under who do you good search for? You type in Share Your Soles. Then above that you type in whatever it is you’re looking for on the internet. The only difference between this and every other search engine is that every time you search under Share Your Soles, we get a penny donated to us, which will add up!!! Please help spread the word!! Just click on the link below!!

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