By Aurelie Gaborit de Montjou
It all started with a call Mario Moore, Shorter Hawks basketball graduate assistant coach, received from his coaches. He was asked if he would be interested in taking the men’s and women’s basketball teams to the island of St. Vincent for about a weeklong mission trip during the summer of 2013. His answer? Of course, he would go!
Moore did not have many expectations when he climbed onto the plane.
“Really, I just looked up pictures,” Moore said. “It’s a beautiful place. I knew it was gonna be real hot and a lot of walking.”
The teams were ready to go help the less fortunate people on the island, but they were not sure what to expect. From what they had researched about the place, the island would have the ideal climate, but that was about all they knew.
“The sun rises at 8 a.m. and it WILL NOT go down until 7 p.m.,” said Blake Selland, junior business major. Selland admits that he was not expecting the harsh reality in which people live there.
According to Moore, most of the inhabitants on St. Vincent have never gotten off the island, so they don’t know that life can be better. Only a few of the residents ever get to leave the country.
The majority of the St. Vincent residents live in deplorable conditions where something as simple as shoes are not a mainstay for them.
“Once you get there, reality sets in, and it’s hard for the kids to get off of those islands,” said Moore. “You have to be really talented in sports or something like that.”
Moore realized that all the residents have is all they know. Yet, they manage to be happy and have learned how to live.
The coaches and players were surprised to see that the majority of people are barefoot on the island.
“Most of the people don’t have any shoes there; they walked around and played with us barefoot,” said Moore.
When Moore went to St. Vincent, he left home with three pairs of shoes. He ended up leaving two pairs on the island. Selland also left most of his clothes and shoes on the island.
“They (St. Vincent residents) had the biggest smile on their faces each time I would give them something,” Selland said.
Becauses of his experience this past summer, Moore loves the idea behind a current campus shoe drive conducted by the Communication Arts and Christian Studies departments, in conjunction with Alpha Chi. The purpose of the Footsteps of Faith campaign is to raise as many gently used tennis shoes and socks for the St. Vincent residents.
“It’s a very generous act,” Moore said.
The Footsteps of Faith campaign, which is a class campaign project for students in Professor Trayce Leak’s Public Relations Cases class, is running through mid-April. Drop-off locations are in several spots on the main campus, as well as the business and nursing schools, said Leak.
According to Leak, they are looking for all sizes and primarily sporting shoes because they are more practical for the St. Vincent residents.
“We are asking that an effort would be made toward some children’s sizes if people are actually going to make purchases,” Leak said.
Boxes are located around campus now to accept donations. New shoes and socks are being accepted if gently used shoes cannot be donated.
Selland would like to go back to the island on what would be his third mission trip soon and help to take back some of the donated shoes and socks. He’ll have to bring a big suitcase to hold the shoes, though, because they could be intercepted by the government to be sold.
Also, the shoes cannot be mailed because of the governmental threat to seize them for profit.
Aside from the bonds he made on the island, one of the most important experiences Selland had was his coming closer together with God by helping the residents of St. Vincent.
Macey Hill, vice-president of Phi Mu, agrees with Selland that helping each other is the most important thing.
“Phi Mu is a Christian-based fraternity so being able to help others is a wonderful thing,” Hill said. “We’re supposed to go into the world and help people and share Jesus.”
That’s the reason why her fraternity, along Alpha Chi, is partnering with the two academic departments on the shoe drive.
The Footsteps of Faith shoe drive will run March 24 through April 11. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to donate gently used pairs of tennis shoes and/or new pairs of socks. Donators may also write a note of encouragment to accompany each donation. Donation boxes are located near the main entrances of the Fitton Student Union, Winthrop-King Centre, Rome hall and the School of Business.
