COLUMBIA, S.C. — The holiday season is known as the season of giving, and one local organization is hoping to give the gift of shoes.
A good pair of shoes, whether for walking in town or hiking a trail, is often taken for granted. However, not everyone has the luxury of buying brand-new sneakers.
“We go out and walk the trail and normally we have great shoes on," said Mary Roe, "but we’d like to assist those that don’t have the means, and help possibly get them to walk out of their situation.”
Roe is the executive director of The Palmetto Trail, an organization that maintains South Carolina’s statewide trail. She has started a shoe drive to help those in need.
She explained that on the trail, sometimes people who work for the organization come across others that have fallen on hard times. Plus, "the homeless situation just here in our neighborhood, we would see people walking, and we decided that we needed to do more,” said Roe.
So, The Palmetto Trail has placed cardboard boxes outside their office on King Street to collect donations of new shoes and socks.
“Shoes and socks are pretty much the number one items asked for in shelters," explained Roe. "So, we have this great opportunity to collect shoes and help those that are a little less fortunate right now."
Roe said they held their first drive last year with The Oliver Gospel Mission and it was a big success.
"We hope to have the success we had last year upon boxes and boxes of shoes that we can give back,” she said.
There is a slight change from last year's drive. This time around, The Palmetto Trail is asking for new, moderately priced shoes and socks instead of used ones.
The boxes will be outside their office at 722 King Street Columbia, South Carolina from now until the week before Christmas.
They’re also accepting monetary donations online. To donate, access their website here and click "donate now." Roe said that you can specify that you want the money to go toward shoes for Oliver Gospel.
Roe went out to the store Sunday to buy her first round of shoes that will be donated.