Jordanna Jones, the owner of three Bioped stores in London, told us about her work for Soles4Souls. Soles4Souls collects new and used shoes in Canada and distributes them in developing countries through a network of micro-loan companies in the individual countries.
Children's shoes help children attend school and work more easily in daily chores. The shoes are sold in local markets with new or newer shoes sold in larger and more prosperous cities and towns and used and shoes in markets in less prosperous communities.
Shoes are also distributed directly to schools in some cases.
Jordanna described her recent trip to Haiti where one of her distributors was able to put her son through university and over time build a new home for her family.
S4S has distributed 2.3 million pairs of shoes so far and Jordanna estimates the Canadian arm of S4S has collected and distributed 700,000 pair of shoes. Not only does this endeavour help those in developing countries, but it also keeps shoes out of our landfills.