Grayson Teens` Community Project Helps Thousands Walk Pain-Free

Written by Kenny Ikebudu

This year Kenny Ikebudu and Denzel Gomez and fellow Grayson DECA members,
took the time to help the community by holding a community service project called Holy Soles.

The purpose of Holy Soles is to address the growing level of poverty that affects many people in this world. The most beneficial way that we could contribute to the community is through something that everyone uses; shoes.

For the neighboring charities to help those in need, we needed to help collect the shoes that are necessary for the distribution of the shoes. In the beginning, Holy Sole's purpose was to recycle tennis shoes used by athletes after they were done with them and give them to someone who could use them. Today Holy Soles has expanded its mission to all types of shoes to combat poverty in all ways and all places.

Now that Holy Soles is in its third year of existence, it is in a continuing process of fixing what does and does not work, as well as expanding its presence throughout the community. This year, Holy Soles has expanded to include: South Gwinnett High School, Grayson Kroger, Mount Zion Baptist church, and the Sugarloaf Korean Baptist Church.

By spreading Holy Soles' target to encompass more community members, they anticipated that the overall shoe intake would be a great deal larger than last year's. This year, Holy Soles was able to collect 2,636 shoes, (that is 2,636 legs that can now walk pain free).

This whole event would have never been possible without the help of Grayson's Champion Self storage, managed by Josh Elliott, and, of course, the loving and helpful Grayson community.