Individual Spotlight: Greg Woodburn: Share Our Soles
There’s a movement gaining momentum everyday and it’s global! It’s about mentoring, inspiring, and empowering one another to realize we can all make a positive difference; simply by passing on kind acts and good deeds.
It all started with a small holiday project just donating 100 pairs of shoes. Now it has snowballed into a non-profit organization active on both the East and West coasts, helping underprivileged children from inner-city Los Angeles to Mexico to the Dominican Republic to Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, and Kenya in Africa.
“I have been a competitive track and cross country runner since elementary school, even competing in numerous youth national championships; but, five years ago as a freshman in high school, I suffered a stress fracture in my hip and couldn’t run for several months. Then I missed most of my sophomore year because of knee injuries.”
While at the time he could not have been more devastated by his injuries, today he considers them true blessings. Unable to run made him realize how much he truly loves the sport of running and all that it has given him -- such as self-esteem, confidence, and friendships.
“While I knew I would eventually get healthy and be able to run and race again, I also knew simply running and racing again, simply returning to where I left off, was not enough. I had to make something of my rekindled passion for running and the lessons I had learned.” Greg said.
“My family -- especially my older sister, Dallas -- has always taught me that the best, most effective way to overcome personal adversity is to help others. For helping others with their problems brings us joy and helps to put our own problems in proper perspective. In this light, while I was injured and unable to run, I started thinking about underprivileged kids who couldn’t enjoy this great sport -- not because of injury, but simply because they couldn’t afford running shoes.”
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he started to turn the negative into a positive by creating “Share Our Soles” (S.O.S.), a non-profit organization that donates used (but still in good condition) running shoes to underprivileged youth.
“My initial goal was to collect and clean by hand 100 pairs of running shoes by Christmas 2006.” Said Greg “By getting the word out and by placing collection boxes at local schools, gyms and running stores, however, I was able to personally collect, wash, and send (with the shipping help of Sports Gift, Inc. in San Diego) more than 500 pairs of cleaned-up running shoes both near and far to inner-city Los Angeles as well as Sudan, Uganda and Kenya in Africa.
The feedback from youths in Africa has been especially moving for me -- not only were these the first running shoes any of them had owned, they were the first shoes many of them had ever had. Along with S.O.S.'s unexpected impact halfway around the world, the great joy I felt upon helping others -- as well as the great joy others felt upon donating their shoes and time -- inspired me to turn my Holiday project into a year-round endeavor. Since the winter of 2006, Share Our Soles has continued to grow, inspiring and bringing joy to givers and receivers alike.”
Indeed, Greg’s sister's lesson has proven true in his experience: helping others overcome their problems has brought surpassed joy and perspective. Joy in hearing from orphanages in Africa that the lives of many kids have been turned from violence and drugs towards school and family simply by reminding them, through a pair of shoes, that they are loved.
Based in Greg’s hometown, Ventura is where the goal to spread a love for running to underprivileged children was first formulated, and where S.O.S. is still largely centered today. Likewise, the Ventura community has enthusiastically supported Share Our Soles from its conception to the present day. Indeed, the first pair of S.O.S. shoes was cleaned in Greg's kitchen sink -- and to this day, most collected shoes are cleaned and sorted by size in Ventura.
To ship the footwear, Woodburn teamed with Sports Gift, a nonprofit organization that provides soccer and baseball equipment to children around the world. In just under five years, Woodburn has started four chapters of Share Our Soles: the original in Ventura, another at USC, one at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and one in Ohio. A combined total of shoes year to date is close to 4,000 pairs of shoes and growing.
Achievements:
Greg Woodburn attended at the University of Southern California, where he majored in History and minored in Painting. He is a member of the USC Track & Field team as well as the Men of Troy cross country club. Greg's involvement with Share Our Soles and USC has been detailed in both USC College Magazine and the Daily Trojan newspaper.
Greg is also a recipient of two prestigious public service awards: the 2007 Jefferson Award for volunteer work and public service; and the Congressional Award Gold Medal (for public service, self-improvement, physical fitness, and exploration) require in total a minimum of 800 hours commitment, as noted by the Ventura County Star.
Published by: The Fundraising Journal January 2010
Sources:
http://shareoursoles.org
http://tinyurl.com/yh467o6
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