Shoe Drive Helps School and Rescue Mission

Lindsey Williams displays some of the 123 pairs of shoes she collected.

Lindsey Williams' efforts to collect 50 pairs of shoes to benefit the Rescue Mission of El Paso also helped raise money for a new playground for her school, La Fe Preparatory.

Lindsey ended up collecting 123 pairs of shoes and planned to give them all to the Rescue Mission. However, according to her father, after taking her project to school, "there turned out to be a tremendous buzz around campus. Parents were trying the shoes on and having their children try them on as well."

The school principal approached the Williams family and suggested that some of the shoes could be sold for $2 a pair to help raise funds for a new playground. 32 pairs of shoes were sold thus raising $64 for the playground. The remainder of the shoes were taken to the Rescue Mission of El Paso.

Dr. Dave Williams thanked the Newman Park Neighborhood Association for its help. "Our neighborhood should feel proud that we raised enough shoes to benefit two worth organizations," he said. "That is what El Paso is all about."