From October 21 to November 20, the Red Paws Club is hosting a county-wide shoe drive in hopes of raising money for the homeless animals at the Montgomery County Humane Society (MCHS), a non-kill shelter. As an incentive to donate, students can earn 1 SSL hour for every pair of shoes donated. Donations are accepted in a box under a sign in front of the media center, with the shoes tied together by their laces or by a rubber band, in a plastic bag with the SSL form.

Lily Zhang and Grace Song, co-presidents of the Red Paws Club, hope they will collect 2500 shoes. Richard Montgomery contributed 300 pairs of shoes to the first batch from early November, which totaled 1500 pairs. Other locations participating in this drive include Poolesville High School, Whole Pet Central, Kang’s Black Belt Academy, The Goddard School, and The Auburn School.

Though the drive at Richard Montgomery has ended, an extension is currently pending. Accepted shoes must be wearable and reasonably new, accompanied with laces, if needed, and with intact soles. Single shoes, rollerblades, and Heelys are not accepted.

“If you wouldn’t give it to your best friend, don’t give it to us. If it’s not worthy of being sold, don’t donate it,” Zhang remarks.

The shoe drive runs in collaboration with Funds2Orgs, an organization that helps fundraisers by matching 40 cents for every pound of shoes donated. The shoes will be donated to microenterprises and impoverished people in 26 developing countries to give them a chance to start a business and become self-sufficient.

As MCHS is a non-profit organization, they rely heavily on donations and the proceeds from fundraisers such as this drive. “All the money is going to the Humane Society to, of course, get new supplies for the animals, but also to spread awareness of their shelter,” Zhang said. “Because new animals come in every Tuesday, they want to use the money to spread awareness and tell people the health benefits of getting a pet so they can get more animals adopted and leave less homeless.”

Adelaide Soares, coordinator of the Humane Education Department of MCHS, currently works with the Red Paws Club with this shoe drive and is an ardent advocate of animal welfare. “What I found at MCHS made me give up everything else and be totally committed to helping the domesticated animals that had no chance of escaping from mistreatment, suffering, in many cases torture and death,” Soares said. “I was profoundly moved by their fate and promised myself that I would do anything to turn their lives around, at least the ones within my reach.”

Soares emphasized that anyone could make a difference through MCHS’ numerous opportunities and events. Anyone can get involved by volunteering to help these animals and contributing to drives to help supply the shelter with materials such as pet food and toys. Some major MCHS events to participate in include the online Auction for Animals through November 17 and photos with Santa from 12 to 4 pm on Saturday, December 3.

Senior Noah Shaw was one of the top shoe donors, collecting around 65 pairs of shoes. “I realized just how many shoes my family had lying around not being used or worn at all; all they were doing was collecting dust. My friends and family were more than happy to donate as they knew that their old shoes would at least be very useful and beneficial to someone else somewhere in the world and this drive would also be helpful to me,” Shaw said.

Shaw encouraged others to donate to the drive because it has many benefits. “Donating to this drive is a great way to give back to your local and your global community and brings us ‘down to earth’ and in touch with our sense of generosity and compassion,” Shaw said. “The only thing I would change about this drive is that I would potentially have multiple drop off locations throughout the school, as well as more posters and promotion.”

In their efforts to help the Humane Society, co-presidents Zhang and Song have met many challenges. “I contacted many schools, but they ignored my emails. It was very frustrating that they didn’t even care,” Zhang said.

“There are so many shoes and we have no place to store them. At first we thought we were going to store them at school but then we realized there’s no space. They’re at our houses right now. Our garages are full of shoes,” Song joked.

Though Zhang and Song are seniors, they hope their club will continue. They hope to get more schools involved and get more information out in the community for this drive. Later this year, they plan to host bake sales and candy fundraisers, encourage volunteering for the Humane Society, and make a video of cute animals to encourage donations.

Donating shoes benefits everyone. It is an opportunity to fulfill graduation requirements or CAS hours. One pair of shoes donated means one less pair of shoes in the landfill, and most importantly, it supports a good cause. “Shoes might seem like such a common household item in our society, but in reality it is a privilege that most people in the U.S have and take for granted,” Shaw said.