A girl helps to provide used athletic shoes to underprivileged people

Tag : running shoes
Jillian, a 10th-grade student in the International Baccalaureateprogram at Coral Reef High School, 10101 SW 152nd St., has beenrunning track and cross-country since seventh grade. When she foundout that there were athletes around the world who did not haverunning shoes, she knew that she had to do something about it.After years of thinking it over, Jillian decided to make adifference.
''I always wondered how those other people did it,'' Jillian said.''How could they be so fast and run with no shoes?'' Jillian said.
She started an ongoing community service project when she was 14years old that helps to provide used athletic shoes tounderprivileged adults and children around the world.
''I did some research online about this and found the One WorldRunning organization,'' Jillian said.
One World Running, is an international program with headquarters inBoulder, Colo., that promotes health and fitness awareness byputting on 5K walks and providing running shoes to people in theUnited States and other countries.
Jillian currently has shoe bins in five different locations aroundMiami-Dade. Passersby can leave their old shoes in these collectionboxes and she sends them to One World Running, where they arecleaned up and sent to those in need.
''My shoes have traveled to people in Romania, Honduras, Haiti, andBelize,'' Jillian said, ``and I hope that I can keep on helpingthem this way.''
Jillian currently has one corporate sponsor, Bruce Behren, owner ofa local DHL shipping company.
''He donates delivery labels, and that covers the shipping costs,''said Jillian. ``I usually send boxes with 50 pairs of shoes at atime.''
Jillian's efforts don't stop there, however. Shoes that are donatedthat are not suitable for wearing are shipped to Nike in Beaverton,Ore., through Boulder's Eco-Cycle program, and are ground up andmade into running tracks and playgrounds through a Reuse-A-Shoeprogram.
Jillian's mom, Amy Roberts, said: ``I think this was a great idea.She's been talking about it for years and she finally decided to dosomething about it last year.''
Jillian's project has expanded from collecting running shoes tojust collecting any kind of shoe. Personally, she has donated about25 pairs of her own.