The Octagon Club ran a shoe drive in order to contribute to the charity Soles4Souls as a mass service project this month.
Soles4Souls is a not-for-profit institution that collects and distributes clothing to micro-enterprise organizations which distributes them to small businesses and helps them with inventory and training.
Soles4Souls operates primarily in America, Africa and Southeast Asia; the clothing from the Octagon drive will be going to Haiti. The drive ran from Oct. 14-24, and the club set up boxes in the office and outside C-123 to collect new and gently used shoes and clothing.
When interviewed, Mike Quattrocki, the drive’s organizer, said that they collected 558 out of their goal of 500 items of clothing and shoes.
“I’m very satisfied. I started the shoe drive last year as my Eagle scout project in conjunction with the Octagon Club,” Quattrocki said.”I plan to keep doing it until I graduate.”
They expect much more next year following the implementation of incentives and donation tracking.
“I’m just happy we were able to collect as many shoes as we did. People were able to help just by cleaning out their closets,” Quattrocki said.
Nick Sherr, an Octagon Club member who assisted with the drive, said “It made me feel good and was a great way to get service hours.”