For more information on how to help with the Shoes for Belize project, contact Mary Mullins at (513) 292-1105 or marymullins50@yahoo.com or the Full Gospel Tabernacle church in Middletown at (513) 422-8323.
Mary Mullins is making a difference one sole at a time.
The Middletown woman is collecting shoes for children in Belize.
Mullins started her effort to gather the footwear after seeing a picture her pastor took of children in the Central American country in March.
“They were running around barefooted,” Mullins said. “Just seeing the state of these kids just broke my heart.”
Though she’d never been there herself, Mullins knew she had to do something for those children.
“I love kids. I want to do something for the kids,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I prayed about it and then it came to me.”
So far, with the help of her friend, daughter and her church, Full Gospel Tabernacle on Verity Parkway, Mullins has delivered 60 pairs of shoes through a church traveling to Belize from Indiana.
Mullins is continuing to collect shoes of all kinds – sandals, dress and sneakers, anything. She’s also collecting money she’ll use to purchase shoes and food.
“They can use anything,” she said. “I’m taking gently used and new. I want to make it an ongoing project.”
The shoes will go to Laguna and the outlining areas, where Full Gospel Tabernacle ministers to 110 village churches, said Pastor Jerry Back.
Though resort tourism is popular in some parts of the country, the residents of Laguna live in huts with dirt floors.
“It’s like two different countries,” Back said.
Though Mullins is terrified to fly, she plans to travel to Belize in February to deliver any shoes she has at that time.
“I’ve always felt like I wanted to do something in missions, but I’m afraid to fly,” she said.
“I feel like this is what the Lord has laid on me to do because I’m not afraid to go,” she said. “This is just the right thing to do.”
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