earlier this week a dozen of my friends came through my front door and planted themselves on my kitchen floor and around my farmhouse table to cut their old blue jeans up.  yep, they sure did.  crafting for a cause someone said it.  welcome to the Sole Hope shoe cutting party! after watching a short video of Asher + Dru Collie telling their story of why Sole Hope started and what they do, we were all  ready to get to work.  the video is a little bit graphic for the weak of stomach and as many eyes wanted to look away, others had tears in them, and many mouths uttered unpleasant sounds while watching children about the age as some of our children, having the horrific activity of having jiggers removed from their feet.  If you’ve never heard of a jigger, it’s a sand flea that burrows inside your foot and then has babies.  it’s extremely painful to continue on about your everyday life with jiggers infesting your feet.

Ya know, I have been known to fling my social justice causes and Africa stories to my friends over the years, and sometimes I just don’t know what’s going to speak to them.  I loved that this night it was like a new flame was lit.  Through the tears, and talking about this issue and how Dru + Asher knew that they couldn’t just not do anything – I started to see God start to stir.  I started to see people connect the dots that those kids are just like their kids [even with the same shoe size!] and watching kids suffer and standing by and not stepping up to make things right?  well that’s harder once you see the faces, and you can relate them.  so this shoe party…I know it was just the start.  I know around that table hearts were re-stirred for the broken and the marginalized.  I know that burdens were given, and in the process of cutting over 35 pair of “shoe uppers” hope was born for the kids in Uganda will soon enough wear them on their jigger free feet!

shoe cutting parties are SO. MUCH. FUN.  seriously.  it wasn’t that complicated.  so here’s what you do::

• ordered the kit online
• downloaded this cute picture + sent it out via pingg and text message

• emailed the people who said YES and asked them to bring old denim, scissors and milk jugs
• made some queso + brownies.  had some wine.
• set out the tracing, cutting, organizing stations
• watched the quick 3 min video together
• and let our hands get to work!

there is something about doing work with your hands.  it felt productive, it felt beneficial, it felt beautiful.

as the shoe cutting party site says,

“Not everyone can do everything but everyone can do something! Hosting a Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party is not only fun & easy, but it is a tangible way to give back and affect lives thousands of miles away!”

earlier that day I traced out a few more patterns out of cardboard [plastic would have been better] so more people could trace.

I printed out the images with the station instructions and set them up with the supplies in front of them.

if you feed them, they will come.

happiness!!  friends using their time, energy and hands for GOOD!

so WHAT now?

check out Sole Hope to see how YOU can get involved:  host a shoe party, follow our #blogHOPE trip on social media + on http://bloghope.org/, sponsor a pair of shoes for $10, go on a working trip to Uganda, become an advocate, or hold a collection for these simple supplies:

large safety pins
medical gloves
gauze wrap
stickers for children