One of the greatest things about Lakeview High School is the constant charity projects going on, courtesy of Lakeview’s very own students. One of the longest-running projects of a current student is the Soles for Souls shoe drive being conducted by Madison Meeker. Over two years later, Meeker has collected twenty-two thousand pairs of shoes and will have at least twenty-five thousand pairs by this summer. She has received her massive number of shoes through school shoe drives, collections at races like the turkey trot, and from other shoe drives done. Meeker enlists the help of her friends to load up and collect the shoes. Over the summer, they took a day to load up thirteen thousand pairs of shoes to take to storage. All of her hard work has gotten her to a rewarding opportunity.

This July, she will get to go to the Dominican Republic to distribute the shoes she has collected. According to Meeker, she will hand out the shoes and help the people of the community set up markets. Some of the shoes will be doled out to the people while others will be sold in the markets that she will help set up for the community. Meeker encourages everyone to donate as much as possible and says that they accept any shoe, even high heels or old shoes, because the older shoes can be recycled. Also, she says that, “Donating shoes is an easy way to help people in need, and everyone can do it.” Her trip in July is a prime example of what hard work and dedication can produce.