Canes Hosting Renewed Soles Shoe Drive
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, in conjunction with Camillus House, will be collecting gently worn sneakers as part of the Renewed Soles Shoe Drive at Saturday’s football game against Cincinnati.
The Renewed Soles Shoe Drive is one of many ways Hurricane student-athletes are giving back to the South Florida community that embraces and supports them on and off the field.
“When we were thinking about what type of outreach we wanted to do in terms of our student- athlete engagement, we were thinking about how we can impact the Miami community,” Miami director of student-athlete development Shirelle Jackson said.
“We were thinking about some issues and concerns that we have in the community and homelessness came up,” Jackson said. “Unfortunately, homelessness has historically been an issue here in Miami so we thought it was important to make an impact with that part of the population. Camillus House has been working with the homeless for decades and they were the perfect organization to partner with for this drive.”
Once the SAAC board identified Camillus House as a partner in helping carry out its mission to give back to the community, the student-athletes delved into how they could make the biggest difference for helping the homeless in Miami-Dade County.
“As we got to know the folks at Camillus House, they were sharing with us the one thing that they are really lacking is shoes,” Jackson said. “We started with our SAAC representatives telling their teammates ‘when you guys are done using your shoes, could you donate them to Camillus House?’ It grew from there and we planned this shoe drive where the idea is to be able to provide potentially hundreds or thousands of pairs of shoes to those in need. Hopefully, this will be something that has a big impact in the Miami community.”
SAAC representatives and Camillus House volunteers will be stationed outside of all seven gates at Sun Life Stadium collecting gently worn shoes.
“If fans can bring even just one pair of gently used shoes to the game with them on Saturday, they would help us make an amazing impact,” Jackson said. “We are looking for shoes that have good soles and shoes laces.”
A leader by example, Jackson and her family plan to donate 10 pairs of shoes at this weekend’s Renewed Soles Shoe Drive. She hopes Hurricane fans everywhere will join her and the SAAC in helping those in need.
“We hope our fans go in their closet and look to see if they find shoes that they don’t need,” Jackson said. “I did that in our home and, as a family, we are going to be able to donate 10 pairs of gym shoes. We are hoping that our fans support us in our effort to help our community. If each fan brought just one pair, they would be making a huge difference.”
