By Liz Skalski
The Gazette
Thursday, September 2, 2010; PG19

Seven-year-old Justice Flora spent his summer vacation collecting shoes — and, in doing so, working to help victims of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January.

Justice, who lives in Lanham, spent the six weeks this summer collecting 1,120 new and used pairs of shoes, most of which will be sent to Haiti to help victims of the earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital.

The Riverdale Baptist School second-grader more than doubled his initial goal of 500 pairs. After he and his family spent hours sorting the shoes, they filled two pickup trucks with about 50 boxes and 10 bags of shoes on Aug. 17 and delivered them to the warehouse in Wilmington, Del., operated by Shoes2Share, a nonprofit organization that works to provide shoes to needy children and families in the U.S. and 17 other countries.

“A little can change a lot,” Justice said. “I saw the earthquake on the news. I thought they would need shoes to help themselves. Haiti doesn’t have shoes like we do.”

After reading an article early this summer in Clubhouse Jr. Magazine that challenged its readers to collect and donate shoes to Shoes2Share, Justice sought the help of more than 100 family members and friends in collecting and donating the shoes. Clubhouse Jr. Magazine is a Christian magazine for children ages 4 to 8.

“The fun thing about it is when I go see the shoes and unload them and see them on the scale,” said Justice, who added that the shoes he collected weighed a total of 1,750 pounds.

The shoes will be sent to nongovernmental organizations in Haiti and other countries, which will distribute the shoes to adults and children, said Shoes2Share’s co-founder, Rhonda Wampler, 43, of Chesapeake City. Donors also were asked to give $10 to help offset shipping costs, Wampler said.

Shoes2Share’s goal was to collect 2,000 shoes by Aug. 30; the organization has collected more than 8,000 pairs, Wampler said. The organization is funded through private and corporate donations, fundraising events and grants, said Tim Wampler, 49, president of Shoes2Share. It was founded in 2004.

“We never had any idea that something as simple as shoes could make a profound difference in a person’s life,” Rhonda Wampler said. “We had no idea that we’d see the motivation coming so much from just the children. That’s been exciting.”

A shipping date has not been set, said Rhonda Wampler, who will take some shoes to Haiti during an October Shoes2Share mission trip. The remaining shoes will be shipped at a later date.

Justice’s mother, Pam Nicholson-Flora, 48, said the experience was rewarding.

“People want to help; you just have to give them the opportunity,” Nicholson-Flora said. “It was an eye-opening experience that people would be so willing to donate.”

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To view more pictures of this event, please visit: http://shoes2share.winkflash.com

For additional news, events & photos join Shoes 2 Share’s Facebook group