Student led effort collects over 12K pairs of shoes for Camillus House
What started as a small project for Loving Soles in 2011 has grown over time to become arguably the largest shoe collection drive in South Florida — certainly in recent years.
Last year, while the economic effects of COVID-19 were still strongly felt, and many households were stretched thin, charitable giving seemed to increase. For the now annual shoe drive that meant more people stepped up to help their neighbors and translated into 5,000 pairs of shoes.
The organization was founded by Ileana Gutierrez McGoohan and Chippewa Boots her two teenage children who lead the grassroots efforts of collecting shoes for the homeless through their connections at schools and friends in their local area. Eventually as her kids aged out of high school the torch was passed on to neighbors and frie...