SAAC Members Travel To Haiti To Deliver Shoes For Soles4Souls

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) recently completed another successful Soles4Souls campaign, however this time instead of just collecting the shoes, they decided to take it a step further and deliver them.

A group of nine Iowa State student-athletes were chosen to be a part of the program and travel to Port au Prince, Haiti, from August 7-11 to deliver shoes to those in need.

"We have been partnering with Soles4Souls for the past several years by collecting new and used shoes of all types to donate to the organization, but this was our first time going on a service trip to actually distribute shoes to people in need," said Joanna Beaton, Iowa State's student-athlete affairs coordinator.

Students partook in four different shoe distributions where they sized the shoe recipient's feet and fit them with the appropriate shoes. Last year, student-athletes collected 450 pairs of shoes. This year, 1,340 pairs of shoes were collected and distributed to children in Haiti.

Student-athletes who were interested in the service trip filled out an application that included a personal statement about why they were interested in participating and how the experience could impact them. In total, Beaton said they received about 30 applications for nine spots.

Student-athletes that participated included Chris Celona (Track & Field), Wyatt Rhoads (Track & Field), Ben Kelly (Track & Field), Lauren Roeling (Soccer), MJ Kamin (Golf), Hilary Green (Gymnastics), Mary Kate Luddy (Swimming & Diving), Colin Strickland (Wrestling), and Sydney Ronald (Swimming & Diving).

Soles4Souls is a not for profit global organization that helps fight poverty both internationally and in the United States through the collection and distribution of shoes and clothing.