This past Christmas I took almost 2 weeks of blogging. I wanted to step away and really decide what my goals for 2012 were. There was even a point during that time where I thought I would take an even longer break from blogging. It was during this break that I really felt like God was encouraging me to continue blogging and asked if I would dedicate the blog to Him this year. It was in that moment that I was reminded of so many wonderful things I learned at Blog Sugar last year. The one thing that really stuck with me was that God has given us a story to write and it’s our job to write it. So I dedicated the blog back to God this year and asked that he would lay things on my heart for me to share in a way that was so obvious… so powerful that I would know that it was from him and only him. Since then I’ve shared some very personal things that have weight heavy on my heart in my Coffee Date posts.
Then out of no where SOLE Hope began tweeting me. I had never heard of their organization, but it turns out they read my blog and decided to reach out to me. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it was. Not a coincidence by any means, but a nudge from God. A reminder of that promise I made to him that I would write about what he wanted me to write about.
So I visited their site.
I watched their video.
and let me tell YOU…
There are some things in life that move you.
Move you in ways you would never expect.
That seem to come out of left field and hit you like a ton of bricks.
Then you find yourself wondering, how have I not heard about this? How does this problem exist and I have no clue?
When I watched that video my heart was struck…. BIG TIME!
I can’t even put into words how life changing this video is. Please watch it.
All I can think about through the tears is my own little children.
What if this was their life?
I can’t even imagine how hard it would be, as a mom, to feel so helpless against protecting my children from the little creatures who burrow in their feet causing pain and nerve damage. It’s truly heart breaking.
But there is HOPE.
There is a way to Make A Change.
SOLE HOPE is an organization dedicated to helping provide jobs for women in Africa by making shoes for children to protect their feet from jiggers.
A way to be Jesus with skin on for others.
A foot washed.
A Sole shoed.
A Soul fed in the process.
Wanna get involved?
Here’s how:
You can begin by heading over HERE and voting for them to win a $20,000 gift for their organization.
When I first heard about this organization I knew I wanted to do something. I wanted to play a part in changing the lives of these children. So, with the help of Natalie and Jacqui, we are hoping to organize a few fun things to get you all involved in helping better the lives of these kids. SOLE Hope has a Shoe Kit in their store that you can purchase and then host a Shoe Cutting Party! How awesome is that? You cut the fabric, ship it off to SOLE Hope and they sew them up and get them on the feet of children who need them. But we need to raise some money to buy the kit and fabric.
So…
The money raised from the giveaway entries will go towards purchasing materials to we can host a Shoe Cutting Party!
Then, once we’ve collected the funds, Natalie has offered to open her home (date TBD) for a Shoe Cutting Party!! Woohoo!! So if you’re local and you want to come help us cut shoes we can then send back to SOLE Hope you’d be on our favorites list forever. We’re hoping to get a group of women to commit to helping us with this.
So what do you think?
Wanna help out?
Samantha says
Definitely going to get involved with this!!!
Rags to Stiches says
Yay we are so thrilled you want to be involved. Thank you!
Natalie @ NS Pottery says
Those images are almost too much to look at. 🙁 Can’t imagine living in conditions like that. We have SO much to be thankful for.
Rags to Stiches says
I know! I pretty much bawled through the video, writing the post, and anytime I think about those poor children and their feet. Praying God will do big things through this organization to further his kingdom and bless his children.
Charissa @ {Hooked on Props} says
What an inspiration!! I couldn’t imagine not being able to provide for my boys especially not to provide shoes for their sweet feet. I would love to donate an item from my Etsy shop to the project and have emailed. Your blog post was an inspiration to me and I look forward to reading more!
~Charissa
Rags to Stiches says
I know! This is so heartbreaking! Thank you so much for being a part of this with us!
janene@everydayeo says
What a great cause! I would love to help out! Keep ne posted:-)
Kate says
I wish I would have known! I would have tied my March “Do Good” to this. As it is, you can bet I’ll be happy to help and will definitely be looking to host a shoe cutting party of my own here in Wisco!!
Thank you for your wonderful heart…
Rags to Stiches says
Girl you should totally host a WI shoe cutting party!! That would be awesome!! Heart you friend.
Marianne says
Great post! I found you through Sole Hope’s Facebook post.
My church (www.millbrookbaptistchurch.org) has had a few cutting parties sponsored by our women’s and sewing ministry groups. We just wrapped up our latest round of cutting and yielded 200 pairs of shoes cut. It is a wonderful cause and a such a rewarding event. We had women and youth from other churches join us and got to make new friends.
Have a wonderful time at your shoe cutting party!
Marianne says
FYI – you can probably get some free fabric for your cutting party if you go to fabric/upholstery/furniture shops in your area to see if they will give you their remnants. Think of any place that uses fabric and might have scraps. We have yet to buy any fabric for the shoes we’ve cut. It’s all been donated. You want sturdy fabric for the outside and thinner, softer fabric for the lining.
Rags to Stiches says
Thank you for this great tip!! I’m totally going to go to the fabric stores in our area and collect scraps. 200 pairs?! How exciting!!
Jacqui of Baby Boy Bakery says
Girly! You’ve tougher a lot of people’s hearts today! So honored to working so closely with you and this amazing cause!
PS Marianne! Great insight! Thank you for sharing!! So excited to having our shoe cutting get together!
LOVE
shannon says
I just voted for them. What a wonderful mission. I would love to help out in any way I can. Please keep me posted.
Rags to Stiches says
Thank you friend!! God is so good and I know he’s going to do wonderful things through this organization. Thank you for wanting to help out. We will keep you posted on the all the exciting stuff happening.