“For kids that don’t have much, Sole to Soul helps them out and gives them something to look forward to,” Jamie Warner, a freshman business management major said.
Sole to Soul is a Christmas season donation drive created by Warner and four of her Leadership Institute peers. It aims to help children in need during the holidays by donating items to them that can fit in a shoe box. The drive started on Oct. 28 and ends on Nov. 15.
“The idea of the project is that we put shoe boxes around campus for people to donate small things into,” TJ Worswick, a freshman aviation student said.
The donation drop boxes are located in the Jerome Library, the BGSU Flight Center and Founders Hall. They are also not limited to Christmas items.
“It could be anything that could benefit kids. Christmas toys, healthcare items, school supplies, socks and gloves are all options. They’re all going out to kids and families that are in need,” Maraina Gaunt, a freshman Business student said.
“I think the Leadership Institute program has been great. I’ve had a great time so far. I’ve met a lot of cool people and had fun experiences,” Worswick said.
The group took Leadership 1000 as a course, where they received the assignment they would eventually create the Sole to Soul project out of.
“We were supposed to do some sort of leadership project over a span of time. We decided to choose Sole to Soul since holiday season is coming up,” Gaunt said.
The group overall wanted to create a project that would truly impact the lives of others around them.
“We sometimes take for granted what we have, so we thought we would do something with giving back to the community,” Caroline Anthony, a freshman early childhood education student, said.
The Sole to Soul project was created at a timely point in terms of the downward consumer trend in the ability to buy Christmas presents in America. In fact, a Newsweek study from last Christmas found that 34% of the participants couldn’t afford to buy Christmas presents.
“I think that statistic is very sad. Little things like Sole to Soul can help though. When I was in high school, we would pick foster kids to give five presents to. That’s basically our motive here, giving back during the Christmas season so that [these kids] have the experience that we had,” Kylee Cooper, a freshman psychology student said.
To logistically get the donation boxes to families in need, the group partnered with Operation Christmas Child, an organization that aligns with the group’s values and missions of helping all children have a great holiday season, regardless of socioeconomic status.
“People will write a little description that says what’s in the box and that it’s for Sole to Soul. Then, we will send the boxes through Operation Christmas Child,” Gaunt said.
Partnering with Operation Christmas Child also allows the group to incorporate money donations as well.
“If someone doesn’t want to go and buy a box, we also have a Venmo set up that they could donate to,” Cooper said.
The team doesn’t know exactly how many donations have come in yet for Sole to Soul. However, they are hopeful that the outcome of the project will be positive.
“We’re trying to get as many donations as we can. We’re hoping for a high turnout because that’ll be great for all the kids involved who will end up getting these boxes,” Gaunt said.
Nov. 15 will be the last day the group will be accepting donations for Sole to Soul. After the drive is over, boxes and donations will be sent to families through Operation Christmas Child and many children’s holiday seasons will be a little brighter.
