HOISINGTON— Hoisington High School Family, Career and Community Leaders of America club is collecting gently worn shoes until Jan. 20 for the group Soles4Souls Inc.

Soles4Souls Inc. collects and distributes shoes to people living in extreme poverty and recovering from natural disasters. The shoe charity provides one pair of shoes to a person in need every seven seconds, according to the group. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has distributed more than 13 million pairs of shoes.

Soles4Souls and FCCLA will be collecting new or gently worn footwear and/or donations. Every donation will support the charity’s initiative to distribute shoes to those in need.

"With tragedies such as the earthquakes in countries like Haiti and Japan, on top of the enormous needs elsewhere, we can use the estimated 1.5 billion shoes taking up space in the closets of ordinary people to change the world one pair at a time," said founder and CEO of Soles4Souls, Wayne Elsey. "We need partners like FCCLA to get behind Soles4Souls. Donating shoes is one of the most simple yet profound acts you can do, because it will greatly improve someone’s life in the most difficult of times."

If you have shoes or a donation to help ship the shoes, contact Karla Reisner at Hoisington High School at 620-653-2141 or at kreisner@usd431.net. The organization’s website is at www.giveshoes.org.