Cherokee High School’s girls basketball team has been leading in more than just games this season. The girls and their parent organization, the Lady Chiefs Hoops Association, teamed up with nonprofit social enterprise, Soles4Souls—which distributes donated clothing and shoes around the world—and held a shoe drive to collect 150 shoes for those in need.
“The girls are fortunate in that each season, their parents typically buy new basketball sneakers. Some girls have been playing for years, with closets full of outgrown sneakers in great condition. The idea of donating sneakers grew into donating all kinds of shoes—not just from our team but from the whole community,” explains head coach Ron Powell. In between weekly practices and games, players and parents worked together to spread the word about the shoe drive—held throughout the month of January—and soon resulted in bags and bags of new and used shoes. “All three teams—freshman, JV and varsity—came together and [spent] a Saturday sorting and organizing the donated shoes,” adds Powell. “This is when the impact of what they have accomplished set in.”
With their first donation already delivered, the team plans to continue working with Soles4Souls as they hope to make a footprint on the lives of others.
For more information or to learn how you can help, visit Soles4Souls.org.
Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 12 (March 2018).
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