Rocky Mount Elementary Donates 1,407 Shoes

drama club director Barbara Evangelista writes and directs a school play each year that is tied into a community project. This year's school play "There's No Place Like Home" was a spin off "The Wizard of Oz." In the play, the character Dorothy wears ruby sneakers that are coveted by the Evil Hag. The play's focus on the shoes inspired the school's community project choice of donating shoes to 40 Girls and Some Shoes.

"Our goal was donating 100 pairs of shoes. In two months, we collected and donated 1,407," Evangelista told Northeast Cobb Patch.

"There's No Place Like Home" was presented by two casts; a total of 63 students. Shoes were collected at performances in two large bins. Soon, the bins were full. The shoes kept coming.

Rocky Mount Principal Gail May creates a slogan each school year. The students, faculty, parents and community lived up to this year's slogan "Imagine, Believe and Make It Happen" through the donations and preparation of the shoes for shipment and distribution.

"40 Girls and Some Shoes had to bring a van and two men to haul away all the donated shoes," said Evangelista.

"The kids were phenomenal. They collected the shoes, helped count and bag the shoes... they even helped load the shoes," said Sylvia Webb, 40 Girls and Some Shoes founder. "I can't say enough about Rocky Mount. They are wonderful."

Webb, a U.S. Airways flight attendant, left for Haiti on Tuesday with shoes in tow. Most of the shoes will be distributed to low-income communities in and around Atlanta, she said.

Donations to 40 Girls and Some Shoes can be made online at 40girlsandsomeshoes.org or by calling 678-457-8500.

About 40 Girls and Some Shoes

Webb's first cousin died of a heart attack in a Houston, Texas homeless shelter. The family was stunned. No one realized that the cousin, a divorced housewife, had become homeless until her death.

The experience led Webb to form 40 Girls and Some Shoes in 2007. People sometimes struggle in life. Webb vowed to help.

Since inception, 40 Girls and Some Shoes has acquired 10,000 pairs of new and gently worn shoes through shoe drives that it has given to children and adults in the Atlanta area.