Put Your Best Foot Forward This Holiday Season

Give the gift of shoes to families and children in need

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Nov 17, 2011, 05:12 ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For many of us, shoes top our holiday gift list. Whether it's wooly new boots, snappy Italian loafers or a pair of strappy Manolo Blahniks for a New Year's Eve bash -- new shoes are a luxury. Sadly, for 300 million children worldwide, shoes are on their holiday list because they don't have any -- and they are unable to attend school and live healthy lives without them.

Going without shoes puts individuals at risk for a number of health concerns. Dangerous puncture wounds, cuts, scrapes and burns to the feet can lead to serious infection, amputation and sometimes death if not treated. It is estimated that every 15 seconds, a child dies from a disease related to contaminated water, deplorable sanitation and poor hygiene. Many of these diseases could likely be avoided with proper footwear.

Yet in the United States alone, approximately 1.5 billion pairs of shoes sit unworn in closets. Each day we put on our shoes and depend on them to walk us through life without much consideration for their value. For those of us who are fortunate enough to have access to shoes, it is easy to take them for granted. But for those without footwear, a single pair of shoes could save a life.

This holiday season, consider the millions of children without access to footwear when you are purchasing gifts or donating to charity. Soles4Souls, the shoe charity that provides footwear to those in need worldwide, has organized a virtual holiday shoe drive, Kicks4TheWorld, to provide an opportunity for people to sponsor shoes for children in need as a gift. Every dollar donated sponsors one pair of shoes for a child in the USA, Haiti, Honduras, Tanzania or India. Shoe sponsorships can be purchased as gifts by visiting Soles4Souls.org/Kicks. Soles4Souls also accepts new and gently worn shoe donations at various drop-off locations nationwide which can be found at GiveShoes.org. Watch a video about Kicks4TheWorld here.

About Soles4Souls®

Based in Nashville, Tenn., Soles4Souls collects new shoes to give relief to the victims of abject suffering and collects used shoes to support micro-enterprise efforts to eradicate poverty. The organization also provides clothing and other necessities under the names Clothes4Souls and Hope4Souls. Donating parties may be eligible for tax advantages. Visit www.giveshoes.org, www.clothes4souls.org, or www.hope4souls.org for more information.

SOURCE Soles4Souls