For some unexplainable reason, I’ve recently begun to think seriously about what I really believe about Jesus Christ. Is he really who the scriptures say he is, and is he alive today?A large Fort Wayne evangelical Christian congregation is taking a big step to assist children in need.
Pathway Community Church is sponsoring a month-long drive to collect 2,500 pairs of new and lightly-used children’s shoes to give to children in orphanages and homeless shelters in the Fort Wayne area and around the world.
Coordinator Michael Allison says the project is being called the 5,000-Foot Wall, though it won’t be a literal wall stretching nearly a mile.
Instead, the name comes from the idea that 5,000 feet will have new shoes if the project reaches its goal, Allison says.
The collected shoes will be hung from a scaffolding-like “wall” structure in the church’s sanctuary around the altar.
Allison, 47, says the congregation’s True Vine Ministries group, which promotes adoption, was inspired to do the project in part by the new Fort 4 the Fatherless initiative, which has a similar mission of aiding orphans.
“A leadership team member saw another church doing the concept of shoes with a 400-foot wall, and Pathway is large enough, based on past experience with food drives, that we thought the church could raise more than that. That’s why we set the goal of 2,500 pairs of shoes,” Allison says.
The church plans for 400 pairs to stay in Allen County, while 100 pairs will go to Mark Murphy, a congregation member who works as a missionary with Jesus in Haiti.
The rest will be shipped to Buckner International, a Christian group in Texas, which sponsors a Shoes for Orphan Souls program that ships donated shoes around the world, Allison says.
“We found there’s a lot of customs issues and paperwork involved, but by shipping to this one place in Texas, we’ll be able to get the shoes where they need to go,” he says.
Mike Ummel, Pathway’s missions pastor, says the drive got a boost when a church member in management at Meijer was able to secure that company’s help.
Pathway members were offered the opportunity to purchase shoes from Meijer at a discount, Ummel says.
About 500 shoes were picked up from the Lima Road store on Sunday.
Allison’s employer, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance, Fort Wayne, assisted in the drive, as did Star 88.3 FM.
Congregation members and the public are asked to drop shoes off at the church at 11910 Shearwater Run before the 5:30 p.m. service on Saturdays or the 8:15, 9:45 or 11:15 a.m. services on Sundays. Shoe collection dates are today and Sunday and Sept 4, 5, 11 and 12.
The drive will also accept cash donations, Ummel says
True Vine has been active in encouraging people from Pathway, which has more than 1,500 members, to adopt children by starting a fund to help defray the expense, Allison says.
Pathway also will host an adoption forum on Oct. 23 at which the ministry will participate, he says.
Allison, vice president and chief counsel for Brotherhood, and his wife, Holly, have adopted a daughter, Hillary, 9, from Taiwan and a son, Peter, 7, from Vietnam.
The couple also have three biological daughters, Annie, 19, and Grace, 18, both college students, and Cara, 16, a student at Blackhawk Christian School.
So, the family knows firsthand what a bite kids’ shoes can take out of the budget, especially at this back-to-school time of year.
“The local children’s homes and shelters were very, very interested in receiving shoes,” he says. “We’re hoping that hundreds will donate.”
