Small Act of Kindness Has Big Results

Sometimes a simple act of kindness can have a big impact.

Brookfield tae kwon do students and their families and friends demonstrated that by volunteering their time Saturday to sort and bag mountains of shoes for people in need.

Thousands of shoes were generously donated for Soles4Souls, Inc., a national non-profit organization that distributes shoes to those who need them. 

More than 75 volunteers gathered Saturday in the former Scan Interiors building on Capitol Drive to help process the donations. The wet weather didn’t dampen the celebration atmosphere inside the building, where the volunteers efficiently shifted and sorted the shoes, fueled by picnic food and a bake sale to raise money for the cause.

Soles4Souls will distribute the shoes to areas with the greatest need, including the southern states where tornadoes have ravaged communities and overseas locations like tsunami-torn Japan and poverty-stricken Kenya, according to one of the organizers of the event, Bonnie Lee, a student at in Brookfield. 

As a first degree black belt, Lee, no relation to the Lee family who runs the martial arts studio, is required to do a community service project as one step to earning her next degree.

“But it’s become everybody’s project,” she said to the group after being thanked for her work by Master Chan Lee.

Fueled by her enthusiasm and the can-do spirit of the tae kwon do community, the project was contagious, resulting in an incredible 20,158 pairs of shoes being collected. The shoes, after being bagged, filled two FedEx trucks.

All five of the JK Lee Black Belt Academy schools — , , , Germantown and Pewaukee — collected shoes for the cause.

But Bonnie Lee said that the idea spread from the martial arts schools to the wider community, schools and workplaces. 

Lee’s son Alex, 12, gave a presentation to Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, netting more than 3,200 pairs of shoes donated by its employees. 

Another example of the contagiousness of the act is elementary student A.J. Ross, who along with two friends collected an estimated 800 pairs of shoes from classmates and families.

“The ripple effect has been huge,” Lee said.

Space for the project was donated by Henrik Holmskov, owner of the building, and shipping facilitated by Ward Strang, CEO of FedEx SmartPost. Other businesses also assisted with the cause.

Challenging kids and others to do simple acts of kindness, as JK Lee schools do, was an idea that was inspired by Brian Williams, of Reno, NV. founder of ThinkKindness.org and himself a martial arts student.

“Think Kindness … helps kids realize that they can do small acts of kindness that can have a huge impact on the world,” she said. “Shoes are just one of the catalysts.”

Some of the rationale for collecting and donating shoes: there are about 300 million children in the world who do not own a pair of shoes. Three hundred million is also is the amount of shoes we put in our landfills, Lee said.

Shoes, a basic part of everyday life for most people in the States, protect people from illness and parasites. And shoes are the most expensive part of the school uniform in many third world counties: no shoes, no school.

“We take school for granted here, but in other countries you need good grades and money to go to high school. So a pair of shoes is significant and can make a big difference,” Lee said.

Lee and her son will travel to Kenya in August to hand-deliver shoes to children who have been orphaned through abandonment, war or AIDS.

“It really brings it full-circle for us, from the asking for donations to actually handing the shoes to the kids,” she said. 

An additional 565 pairs of shoes were collected for local agencies and shelters like Joy House, Victory Church, the Heart Love Place, the Sojourner Family Peace Center and the Guest House shelter, she said.

For families participating in the event, it was a meaningful way to take part in a community project, something JK Lee schools actively encourage. 

“Tae kwon do is not just punching and kicking. It’s leadership and doing things like this service project. It’s great to be a part of this,” said Heather Rodriguez, parent of a young tae kwon do student.

Preceding the shoe sort was another fundraiser for the cause — a safety seminar for families by Dave Young, a world renowned self-defense expert. About 20 families attended the seminar at the JK Lee Black Belt Academy in Brookfield, 12645 W. Lisbon Rd.