Sole Hope: a shoe cutting party.

when i heard about Sole Hope (watch the movies for more info) from Nat (Take the Cannoli), i instantly fell in love with the heart behind the ministry.  we often feel so overwhelmed with the world’s injustice and sorrow and in turn, don’t really do anything about it.  Sole Hope fights that mentality and works hard to do something (even be it seemingly small) and makes a HUGE difference in the life of each person it helps.  jiggers are a big problem that can be solved with such a small solution–something we take for granted every day—SHOES.

i’m not going to lie, i  also was in love with the idea that you could “craft” and help people at the same time!

so i invited all my dear friends and organized a Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party.  it was amazingly easy to put together and turned out to be so much fun and a real success.  my prayer is that the Lord will multiple what we did and bring glory to His name through the shoes that will be sewn and worn in Africa.

i would highly recommend that you host a shoe-cutting party yourself.  like i said, SO EASY and fun!

here’s the process:

1.  Send for a shoe-cutting kit from the Sole Hope website:  i ordered a 10 person kit, but you don’t have to know your exact numbers because they send patterns and you can make copies.

2.  Collected about 7 milk jugs, 7 pairs of old jeans, some cotton fabrics that i had in my stash, jumbo safety pins, sharpie markers, fabric scissors, and pinking shears.  i also asked the people attending to bring any of these items if they already had them.  i only bought two pairs of scissors.

3.  Invite guests.

4.  The night before, i cut the jeans so that would lie flat and be easier to trace on.  i also cut shoe size tags so that they were pre-made ahead of time.

5.  At the party, i organized the area into three sections: TRACING, CUTTING, & ASSEMBLING.  (we also threw in a little “Design Your Own Pie” bar for our food–more on that tomorrow).  We watched the introduction videos (short) that came with the kit and then divided into three groups and got to work!  it was so fun to sit around and chat while doing such an easy and worthwhile task.

even the guys got in and helped.  they didn’t know they were so ‘crafty!’

there were 12 people and we worked for about 1 1/2 hours and finished over 20 pairs of shoes.  it makes my heart so happy to know that 20 kids won’t be walking barefoot in unsanitary conditions and will be free from the fears and effects of jiggers.

thank you, Sole Hope, for your generous heart and passion for serving others and thank you, friends, who came and supported me and this great cause!

i’ll be doing it again soon–will you!?

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