This article ran in the Quincy Hearld-Whig on June 15, 2004, after my photo titled “Heart of a Cobbler” won first place in the Quad State art competition at Quincy Community theatre. First prize was $1,000 and I donated it back to Zimbabwe for Compassion Ministries to use for orphans. Please click on the above photos to read the story.

When this article ran,  I had not asked for shoe donations from local people. I had been concentrating on getting factory defect or closeout footwear from my vendors either by donation  or buying them inexpensively.

After the article ran, I was inundated with shoes donated by wonderful people from Quincy and the local community. I, my family and many of our employees of our family run shoe repair fixed any used shoes that came in. We boxed up nearly 1,500 pair of shoes and waited to see how how God could possibly get them all to Africa.

How God got them to Africa is the most miraculous part of the story. The answer came almost a year later after I returned from a trip to Sri Lanka to help rebuild homes for Indian Ocean Tsunami survivors. I had no idea how I could ship all of the shoes. Just shipping one pair could cost as much as $50. How could I ever get a truck load of boots there? I had asked a friend who was going to Zimbabwe to ask for me, when he returned, he did not know how, but gave me a number and an email and said to try to contact LEASEA. I wrote an email detailing all I had done and experienced in Africa. How touched I was the people in Africa and how I felt like God had said to me, “You may not be able to do anything about AIDS, but you CAN do something about shoes.” And I told them all about how I had been collecting almost 1,500 pair of shoes.

I sent the email and was surprised ten minutes later with a call from Bob Boucek for LEASEA. He told me that the story was so amazing that he couldn’t wait to email and had to call right away. He explained how LEASEA collects donated food and ships it all over the world to starving people.  He then when on to detail how two container trucks bound for Africa had come and gone that day, but a third had been delayed and would not be able to leave until the next morning. Amazingly, these containers were all going to Africa, in fact to Zimbabwe, to Haire, Zimbabwe and most amazingly to Compassion Ministries, exactly where I needed my shoes to go. He asked how soon could I get the shoes to them, that they had just enough room left on the truck to fit all of my shoes.

I had all the shoes boxed and ready to go. So, I rented a truck and within hours was driving 1,500+ pair of shoes to South Bend, IN.

About three months later the containers of food and shoes would arrive in Haire, Zimbabwe, Africa at a time when they were needed most. The Mugabee government purposely caused one million people to be homeless. The news called it a man-made Tsunami, as soldiers came and destroyed homes and evicted people into the streets. All in retaliation for a recent too close election. But God had a plan some three years earlier to speak the the Heart of a Cobbler and set a miracle in motion.