In a village named Herefords in Swaziland, winter is approaching as quickly as summer is approaching here.

Two Lee students are determined to send as many pairs of shoes to children there as possible before cold temperatures sweep in.

Marie Chiara and Shantell Robbins visited Swaziland for one week during a three-month stay in South Africa this past summer and conducted an assembly at a local school, where many of the students came barefoot.

“Seeing the kids, it’s just etched in our minds and we really wanted to do something,” Chiara said.

Chiara and Robbins contacted the Dean of the Intercultural Studies Department, Dr. Edley Moodely, who agreed to use department funds to pay for fliers created by Chiara, which were posted across campus along with donation boxes.

Students can drop off any used or new pairs of shoes in these boxes, which are located in the the PCSU, Humanities Building, and all residential halls. The boxes will be collected on March 28 and sent via ship to South Africa, where they will be driven into the remote village and distributed to the local students.

Any shoes will be accepted, though they should be clean, and broken laces replaced. Chiara said she has actually been surprised at the number of new shoes that have been donated.

“People aren’t just giving used shoes, but they’re going out and buying brand new Payless shoes,” Chiara said.

But that is not the only surprise she and Robbins have had. On the first day she posted fliers about the drive, Chiara recieved a phone call from a former Lee student who read a ReLEEsed email describing the Shoes for Swaziland drive.

“She [said], ‘basically, my church wants to help, and we’re going to raise a thousand pairs of shoes for you guys, and promote it to the entire comunity where I live in Georgia,’” Chiara said.

Even a recreational center in Goergia is donating equipment to the cause, sending it along with the shoes. These are just a few of the breakthroughs Chiara said she and Robbins have had in their efforts, even though the two have never attempted anything like this before.

“This generation can make a difference, for sure,” Chiara said, “I just kept telling myself ‘I know that I can do this’ and we actually did it.”