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Santa has been working as a janitor for four years, earning about $150 a month to support her family. Her ex-husband occasionally gives her $5, but with five kids, that doesn’t go very far.

Santa was embarrassed by her situation as she opened up to our Buckner Dominicana staff. They encouraged her to bring the girls to the Buckner Family Hope Center VBS program in Villa Esfuerzo, Dominican Republic made possible by a Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls® trip.

The two youngest girls, Dioleidy and Wisleidy, came. They heard lessons on how the Holy Spirit protects and cares for them, made wind catchers with beautiful stickers and streamers and received a brand new pair of shoes and socks to end their day.

That evening, Santa saw happiness radiating from the girls’ faces.

“I couldn’t stop smiling – my face was reflecting the happiness they felt!”

To some of us, shoes might seem like a small need, but to a family that couldn’t afford any extras, two pairs of shoes made a world of difference.

Stories like this remind me how God used people all along the way to bless this family. Someone donated shoes, someone else donated socks, a volunteer packed them up with a note and another volunteer traveled to another country to provide service and hope. At the same time we were working on getting those shoes in the United States, the Buckner staff that work year round in this neighborhood were building relationships and planting the seeds to allow God to work on that particular Monday in Villa Esfuerzo.

Rachel Wallis is the director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls and recently went to the Dominican Republic on a shoe delivery trip.

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