Central Pa teen organizes shoe drive, donates to Haiti and Africa

A local teen is making a big difference in the lives of many by collecting and donating 1,825 pairs of shoes to those in need.

Alisa Pryor, a senior at Waynesboro Area Senior High School, first came up with the idea to start collecting after watching a video online of a similar collection of shoes.

"I always wanted to do something like a community service project, and this was a great opportunity to do that," Alisa said. "I partnered up with funds2orgs.com and started collecting shoes in July of 2020."

Alisa said that over the past six months, she has collected shoes from her classmates at WASHS as well as numerous community members and local businesses where she put collection bins.

"We collected sneakers, flip flops and heels boots, just about every type of shoe you can imagine we had in all sort of sizes for children to adult sizes," Alisa said. "We posted it on social media, and from there it just grew and more people donated; the response was just overwhelming."

In late January, Alisa, 18, with the help of her mother, siblings and friends, bagged the 1,825 pairs of shoes into bags, labeled them and loaded them into a box truck to be sorted by funds2orgs.com and then shipped to those in need.

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"They came to our house in the early morning to pick up the shoes," Alisa recalled. "We put 25 pairs of shoes in each bag totaling 73 bags. After they are sorted in Florida, they will be packed up and shipped to Haiti and villages in Africa.

"I always liked helping people since I was young," Alisa said. I think it started when I was in Girl Scouts and we always did community service projects. It's good to give back and help people."

Once the shoes are counted and weighed Alisa will receive a check by mail from funds2orgs.com for the amount of shoes she collected, which she plans to donate to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

"It's an organization that is near to my heart and I wanted to donate the proceeds from the shoe collection to them," Alisa said.

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"She is an amazing person and is so driven," said Alisa's mother, Angel Pryor. "I am so proud of her and what she has accomplished."

For those looking to do a community project like a shoe drive, Alisa's advice would be just to go for it.

"If you enjoy helping people then doing something like this is just fun, and it not work at all."