In December last year university student Greg Woodburn from Ventura, California, took two duffel bags halfway around the world to help change the lives of the children, parents and elders of Sikoro village in Mali.
The bags were filled with 112 pairs of used running shoes in different sizes, styles and colours that he had collected, cleaned and sorted as part of his nonprofit organisation, Give Running.
For Woodburn, 20, the villagers' reactions were the ultimate payoff. The first pair of shoes went to the 70-year-old chief, and as the lanky young man knelt in front of him to slip a pair of new socks and shoes over the leader's bare feet, his hands shook from the excitement.
"I'd envisioned the moment in my head for months, but it was nothing like I'd imagined," Woodburn told Friday from his home in California recently. "It was surreal, life-changing. Even an hour later, I could still feel the adrenaline rush."
The chief was equally thrilled with the new pair of shoes. "He hugged me and said, ‘This is great, now I can play soccer!' Woodburn said. The chief also helped Woodburn distribute shoes and socks to the rest of the village, ensuring that every family received at least one pair of shoes.
"In many cases, the shoes were a full size or half-size too small but the villagers still said they fit because they wanted them so badly. That was really humbling," he added.
For men and women, the shoes meant being able to travel longer distances, work the fields in all kinds of weather and prevent a host of infections, injuries and disease. For the children the shoes were a ticket to education and a better life, as nearby schools would not admit barefoot students.
And last but not least, the shoes gave joy, self-confidence, connectedness and all the benefits of athleticism - in Woodburn's words, the gift of running.
Finding perspective
Three years earlier, Woodburn was feeling sorry for himself. A talented athlete, he began playing soccer and basketball at the age of six, started running at seven and never looked back.
"I loved track and field right away, it was liberating and exhilarating. One of the things I've always enjoyed about running is that it has both a personal component - to constantly challenge yourself and race against the clock - and a team component, where you contribute to something larger than yourself," he said.
Woodburn ran from one success to the next, earning national recognition and accolade after accolade until a stress fracture laid him low for several months in his first year of high school. Knee injuries the following year meant Woodburn had to forgo running for most of 2006.
"When running was taken away from me, I realised how much it meant," he said. "Running gave me health, self-confidence, self-esteem and great friendships. It brought me so much joy and made me realise that while running is hard, not running is harder."
Understandably, he moped around the house, bemoaning his fate until his family stepped in with advice that changed his life.
"My family has always been really supportive and taught me to be empathetic," Woodburn said. "My sister Dallas particularly reminded me that the best way to overcome personal adversity is to think of what other people are going through, to put my problems in perspective by looking beyond my situation."
"I was injured right then, I couldn't run, but I knew that eventually I would be healthy and racing again. But there were kids out there who couldn't run because they couldn't afford something as simple as a pair of running shoes."
To get over his troubles, Woodburn decided to help those children get the shoes. He started a holiday drive, intending to collect, clean and distribute 100 pairs of used running shoes that were still in good condition by December 2006.
Snowball effect
Woodburn rooted through his own collection of slightly worn sneakers, the family cupboards and garage before turning to friends and teammates. Slowly, word spread around town and collection boxes started appearing at the local sports shop, local schools and gyms.
In a few months, Woodburn exceeded his target, netting 500 pairs of shoes. He cleaned every one of them by hand, first inspecting and then scrubbing them off. As the donations continued to pour in, Woodburn contacted San Diego-based charity Sports Gift to help send the shoes where they were needed most.
By Christmas the shoes were on their way to orphanages in Uganda and children's facilities in Sudan and Kenya as well as to inner-city programmes in Los Angeles.
The response from the recipients changed everything. Children wrote to the 16-year-old thanking him not only for the first running shoes they owned, but the first shoes they had ever worn; orphanage administrators wrote that the lives of many kids had been turned from violence and drugs simply by the simple reminder that they were not forgotten; and still others wrote to thank him that they could now go to school.
And just like that, Woodburn found his new driving passion. He decided to continue the collection drive throughout the year and founded a nonprofit organisation called Share Our Soles, later renamed Give Running.
What started as a holiday project is now an organisation with chapters across the US, Ireland and Mexico, reaching out to underprivileged children and families in California, Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Mali, Liberia and nearly a dozen other countries. As of June 2010, Give Running has collected, cleaned and distributed more than 7,025 pairs of shoes around the world.
Along the way, the programme has grown to include donations of adult shoes, and every pair is matched with a new pair of socks.
"I'm still in awe that my small holiday project, a snowflake, has turned into an international snowball," Woodburn told Friday. At 20, he is now a junior at the University of Southern California, majoring in history with minors in painting and entrepreneurship.
Going local
There are many surprising elements to Woodburn's story - his age, dedication and maturity - but one that stands out is his determination to operate locally and globally simultaneously.
"By operating locally, we strengthen our communities by creating connections between the givers and receivers of Give Running shoes, who in many cases run on the same trails and race on the same tracks," he explained.
"Operating globally helps us become part of an increasingly globalised world. We're not only learning about those we give shoes to, we learn from them as well about maintaining hope and persevering through great adversity. We might give shoes, but we get a new perspective on life."
A story of two young brothers from inner-city Los Angeles illustrate his point. The brothers shared a single pair of shoes held together by duct tape. Like something out of a children's fairytale, the shoes were too big for one brother and too small for the other but they took turns to wear them nevertheless. Area schools require students to wear shoes, so the boys also took turns to attend until a pair of Give Running shoes arrived for each of them.
"It is vitally important to have that global perspective, but at the same time I wanted to give locally because there is so much need here," Woodburn said. "Children deserve support and guidance whether they are across the street or across the globe."
He is also adamant that the children - or adult recipients, as the programme has grown - don't feel like they are receiving hand-me-downs or cast-offs. If donated shoes are too worn or damaged, they are sent to be recycled.
"We've always received very good feedback about the quality of our shoes, and that's not something we want to compromise on," said Woodburn. "We are looking for function, not fashion, but if we want these shoes to be useful, they have to be sturdy. Common sense is a good indicator: Ask yourself, would you be willing to wear these shoes on a rainy day?"
Cool runnings
For his academic and athletic success and his extracurricular activities, Woodburn has a list of honours a foot long. He is the recipient of the Congressional Award Gold Medal, the highest honour the US Congress gives for youth accomplishment, the Jefferson Award for Volunteer Work and is a Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Scholar, and a USC Trustee Scholar. He has been profiled in People magazine, Reader's Digest and other publications, and is a member of the university track and field team.
For all that, he still cleans almost all the donated shoes by hand, with a toothbrush, scrub brush and liquid detergent.
"These days, we do wash more shoes in the washing machine, but the lighter ones and the ones that are in very good condition I still wash by hand," Woodburn said. "Most people think it's grunt work but when I'm cleaning I think of the person who will get that pair of shoes and the person who gave them. Those two people might not meet face to face, but they meet foot to foot. It is inspiring, and it's not work I want to pass off to someone else."
It takes three to five minutes to clean one pair, and he normally does up to 100 pairs at a time, carving out a significant chunk of his day.
"People think scrubbing out dirty, smelly shoes would be gross, but I'm actually smiling when I do it because I imagine the smile of the kid who receives them, laces them up and goes out for a run," Woodburn added.
That's exactly what Woodburn did in Mali, the day after the distribution of shoes. "I did a series of 500m laps, and after a while a few kids started running with me, then ten, then 15. Then we went on a run through the village, an 8km loop, and sometimes there would be more than 20 kids, all smiling and laughing and so excited," he said.
"It was a real affirmation of what we were hoping to achieve, to share our love of running with other people and to give them health, confidence and joy. A pair of running shoes can go a long way.
Greg Woodburn's advice to others who want to make a difference:
- Find those things you are most passionate about, whether it's playing the violin or playing a sport. There are so many different avenues. If you start with something you're passionate about, your enthusiasm will be contagious and everything will be much easier.
- Enjoy the rewards. My involvement in Give Running has given me more than the effort and time I've invested in it.
- There are lots of people who want to give back and help out but don't know how, so connect with others to move forward. Give Running would not be what it is today without the generous help of many friends and volunteers. I can't take the credit for how much and how quickly it has grown.
- If you can't give time or money, give what you have: we receive a lot of adult-size, adolescent and young adult shoes but not too many for younger kids. We often try to buy those smaller sizes at cost so we have an effective variety of shoes. Look in your closets and see what it is you don't need or have outgrown, there will always be a way to re-use or redistribute it.
- You will always have setbacks, but as the legendary basketball coach John Wooden said, "Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out." He also said, "There is great joy in doing something for someone else."
Gifting sports
To ship the footwear, Give Running teamed up with Sports Gift, a nonprofit organisation that donates sports equipment to children in 48 countries around the world.
Sports Gift covers soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, tennis, running and Ultimate Frisbee as well as playground items for younger children. Volunteers organise collections of sports equipment in various communities, and all equipment is processed through Sports Gift's main facility in California before being distributed by container, air freight, ground shipping or duffel bag.
In 2009, Sports Gift donated nearly 30,000 items of sports equipment to youth programmes serving impoverished children throughout the world, with 32 per cent of donations going to Central and South America; 22 per cent to Africa; 18 per cent to the South Pacific and Indonesia; 13 per cent to the US; 12 per cent to Mexico and 3 per cent to other parts of the world including India and the Middle East.
The 2009 donations alone will benefit more than 28,000 children in 27 countries.
Keven Baxter, founder and president, said Sports Gift donations to the Middle East are routed primarily through US military groups to help children in the region.
Although Sports Gift does not currently have international offices that can coordinate direct donations from the UAE to nearby communities and countries, Baxter told Friday, "We are always open to discuss partnerships on new ideas."
The nonprofit organisation also arranges free transport on ships and airlines with extra cargo room and is interested in having more partners.
For more information, visit www.sportsgift.org or email kbaxter@sportsgift.org
Do you know of an individual, a group of people, a company or an organisation that is striving to make this world a better place? Every responsible, selfless act, however small or big, makes a difference. Write to Friday and tell us who these people are and what they do. We will bring you their stories in our weekly series, Making A Difference. You can email us at friday@gulfnews.com or to the pages editor at araj@gulfnews.com
