JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Two organizations in Jamestown are seeking shoe donations for two separate, but very important causes this winter.

Dollars for Scholars & Samaritan’s Feet both have completely different goals and are using shoe collections as a way to meet them. Jamestown Public School’s Superintendent Robert Lech says the goal behind Dollars for Scholars is providing relief to post secondary students in the district.

Lech says they will collect the shoes to send to micro-enterprise vendors in Third World countries, which is then sold and used to stimulate their economies. Funds are then given back to the district to be used for student scholarships and programs that benefit the community.

Lech says they’ll continue to accept shoe donations for the next several months, but he encourages new shoes to be donated to Samaritan’s Feet until they are done with their shoe drive.

Samaritan’s Feet was created to help alleviate the shortage of shoes for children in the United States and the world. Sean Johnson says last year, they helped raise and donate hundreds of pairs of shoes for kids in the region.

Johnson says on January 19th, coaches and staff for the University of Jamestown Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams will attend the game barefoot to bring attention to the need for shoes. Donations of new shoes sizes toddler 10-13 and youth sizes 1-5 will be accepted at the door for free admittance into both games that evening.

Then on January 26th, Johnson says several volunteers will fit kids with shoes that were raised during the game and beforehand. He says right now, they’ve got a lot of shoes, but they know the need for more is there.

Once the event is completed, Dollars for Scholars will look to take both lightly used and new shoe donations for their operation. Lech pointed out that their big kick-off to collect shoes will be their January 12th Blue Jay Boys and Girls Basketball games against Bismarck Century.

Lech says there will be numerous sites around the community for the shoes to be donated and later collected as well.

You can listen to a full interview on Let’s Talk About It with Rob Lech and Sean Johnson below: