[caption id="attachment_4555" align="alignright" width="500" caption="Carmen Brown of The Joy FM goofs around with band members from MIKESCHAIR on their shoe collection day in Florida. (PHOTO/Ezekiel Merino of Ezekiel Photography)"][/caption]

By Lauren Hollon Sturdy
Buckner International

Radio stations around the country wrapped up “shoe drive season” at the end of August in their annual effort to support Shoes for Orphan Souls. Some stations have been participating for as many as eight years.

“Radio stations are very important to our ministry,” said Julia Stark, program manager for Shoes for Orphan Souls. “They help spread the word about the needs of children around the world and in the United States who don’t have shoes. And they are in a unique position where they are able to get their listeners in the community to come together and serve with one common goal—giving children hope through a pair of shoes.”

Participating stations this year included The Joy FM in Sarasota, Fla., WMBW in Chattanooga, Tenn., WFCM in Tenn., WBFJ in Winston-Salem, N.C., WDLM in East Moline, Ill., WBGL in Champaign, Ill., KLBT in Beaumont, Texas, and KGLE in Glendive, Mont.

Together, these stations collected 46,335 pairs of shoes and 41,579 pairs of socks.

“About a third of our total shoes received each year come from radio station shoe drives,” Stark said. “We couldn’t do what we do without these stations and their listeners.”

For more information about Shoes for Orphan Souls, visit www.shoesfororphansouls.com.