Footwear collection to makes its way abroad

Imelda Marcos, eat your heart out.

Marcos, the widow of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, is said to have accumulated 2,700 pairs of shoes.

Kyle Warkentin’s collection of shoes is bigger —and instead of being a symbol of self-entitlement and opulence, Warkentin’s is a symbol of generosity and compassion.

To be clear, Warkentin’s collection of 40,000 sets of shoes does not belong to him; he has been collecting them for two years and will send them to Haiti and Africa.

“When I was in Africa, I noticed that a lot of people were walking around barefoot,” Warkentin said yesterday as a group of volunteers helped to empty two large storage units and put the shoes in a tractor trailer.

Those countries are high-risk areas for HIV and a simple cut on a foot can lead to severe infections, amputations, and possibly even death.

Warkentin figured there were plenty of shoes gathering dust in the closets of Nova Scotians, but he never imagined his project would be this successful.

“I wanted to collect 2,000 pairs — that was my goal,” said the 21-year-old Dalhousie nursing student. “People started talking and I gave some presentations to schools and it just grew to be huge.”

The mountain of footwear will go to a warehouse in the Annapolis Valley where volunteers will sort them into pairs. Warkentin plans to go down and help with that and is hoping the spirit of giving will continue.

The storage facility in Dartmouth (Metro Self Storage) provided free space; Frenchy’s provided free trucking; and the shipping of the shoes will also be covered by a donor.

“This is all pro bono which is absolutely fantastic,” said Warkentin, who put an ad on Kijiji looking for volunteers and got some fellow students to chip in.

“There have been a lot of people giving a few hours of their time,” he said. “Altogether, I’ve had over 200 volunteers.”