A party started it all. And shoes. I’m not much of a shoe girl, mainly because my “gun boats” as my husband affectionately calls them don’t fit well into shoes…but nonetheless, shoes and a party were the inspiration for the February/March UrbanHero subscription project. If you didn’t know, Jen and I met through our daughters. They attend the same school and are in the same grade. Lucky for us, they enjoy each others company and have a lot of wonderful little people in their school circles. Even better…the mommas of these little people are beautiful and amazing and we get to call them our friends. Cate, one of these remarkable mommas and co-owner of Wild Ruffle, held a shoe cutting party for her daughter and her friends. We went. We learned. We traced. We cut. We left inspired. And then the February/March UrbanHero subscription project was born.

The amazing organization that will benefit from the subscription program during these months is called Sole Hope. They are a team of people passionate about providing hope and freedom from foot related disease in impoverished African communities through education, jobs and medical relief. Did you know that jiggers, sand fleas who burrow themselves in the body, are responsible for one of the most debilitating medical conditions in Africa? The best way to prevent them? Simply by wearing shoes.

Sole Hope is committed to putting closed toed shoes on African children one pair at a time. Not only does Sole Hope host foot-washing jigger removal clinics, educate the communities and put shoes on these precious little African feet, they are pouring love into and creating sustainability in African communities! Sole Hope teaches the trade of shoe making to community members and then pays them to create beautiful shoes. Amazing, right?! They educate the community, provide medical relief, help prevent the spread of jiggers and teach sustainable skills for employment. That is an organization we are proud to stand behind.

One way to support Sole Hope is by sponsoring shoes and their other efforts through a monetary donation. Another way is to have a party! Sole Hope is further able to carry out their mission through you and I via these shoe parties. All you need are a couple pairs of denim you no longer use, scissors, markers and safety pins. Sole Hope provides a short DVD about the plight of these sweet African feet and patterns to create the shoes. You trace, cut, pin everything together and then ship it off to Sole Hope where they get them in the hands of the shoe tailors they’ve trained and paid to turn them into life saving shoes.

Attending or hosting a shoe cutting party is simple, fun and all ages can get involved. So much information can be found on their website at www.solehope.org. We encourage you to learn more, be moved and party with a purpose! Aren’t the halos and packaging the Urban Heroes received adorable?!