Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Reach Final Leg of Share Your Soles Service Project
August 01, 2008 | General
Aug. 1, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletic Department, along with the Mid-American Conference, shipped more than 4,000 shoes to the Share Your Soles in Chicago as a part of a conference-wide Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) service project that has culminated more than seven months of work.
"Former BGSU and MAC SAAC president Stephanie Swiger was the driving force behind this project and to see the process nearly ending speaks volumes about the MAC's student-athletes," said SAAC advisor Mary Kay Coulter. "Early on, it looked as if transportation was going to be an issue, but as with any other project, a bit of creative thinking brought the Share Your Soles project back on track."
After collecting gently worn athletic shoes throughout the winter competition seasons, each of the league affiliates shipped the donations to Bowling Green's main collection center with both the BGSU baseball and softball teams.
"Initially Share Your Soles in Chicago, indicated that we could get trucking companies to help us out, but with the rising cost of gas it became a necessity for us to get everything to one location and Bowling Green was terrific in making sure that got done," said MAC representative Krista Plummer. "Shannon Salsburg and Danny Schmitz, along with Stephanie Swiger, deserve a lot of the credit for this getting done.
"This project was all student-athlete driven and required very little supervision from us at the MAC, which says a lot about the capabilities our student-athletes have."
Share Your Soles is a non-profit organization based in Chicago, Ill. The MAC collection will be cleaned and then sent to the Dominican Republic and Uganda where they will be distributed to underprivileged children.
Special thanks given to Penny Dean, John Powers, Dave Clarke, Dr. Lee Meserve, Krista Plummer, Dale and Rebecca Swiger and the men's and women's basketball teams for their work in loading the truck.
