Textiles, including shoes and clothing, represent over 16 tons of content in our landfills each year. By supporting THRIVE Peninsula with the shoes we collected, we have participated in the Funds2Orgs Group where the shoes collected are shipped to many micro-enterprise partners around the world in order to promote commerce and business for small business owners. The Group seeks to provide an opportunity for people to help themselves out of poverty. The shoes are not given away, as this would decimate the local market for shoes and destroy local jobs. The shoes, after being repaired as needed, are sold by these small business owners in communities in need of proper footwear at very inexpensive prices. Hopefully, these micro-enterprises are creating a path out of poverty for themselves in countries where there are limited, if any, job opportunities that pay a living wage.
Haiti is one of the countries supported by Fund2Orgs Group. It is the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere. Over 59% of the population live below the national poverty level of $2.41 per day. Another 24% live below the national extreme poverty line of $1.23 per day. The average per capita income in Haiti is $480 compared to $33,550 in the United States.
Meet Silvia: she and her young son, David, were living on about $2.00 a day before the earthquake of 2010. Shoes were needed after the earthquake as essential in preventing disease. Silvia was asked by a friend to help her sell shoes. Working seven days a week for 12 hours a day, she was determined to find a path our of poverty for herself and her son, whom she also wanted educated. Today, she sells the footwear that she purchases for pennies on the dollar and now earns about $60 a day. David has graduated from high school and is attending college – the first one in his family to do so.
For the shoes that are not sold, they are used to fix and make other products or to create something new. Some of these new products are home insulation and stuffing for car seats and furniture. Single shoes and excess scrap are sent to Pakistan where they are purposed into many useful objects.
