Author Kathi Burns, CPO® gives Tampa Bay 10 Connects CBS News viewers advice to help them organize their home from her  book How to Master Your Muck

This is the perfect time to clean out your closets. Get those dust bunnies and old shoes out of your closet and your life this month!

Why now – you might ask? Because NAPO San Diego is collecting shoes for Soles for Souls October 15, 2011 from 10 am until 2 pm.

All shoes welcome! Any size, style or condition. Believe it or not, even shoes without a match can be donated.

Drop off any amount of shoes to be donated and you can enter to win great prizes!

Why shoes, you might ask. Here is the skinny on how one pair of shoes can help transform a life:

The reality of life for many individuals in developing nations is that having a pair of shoes is a rarity. It is not uncommon for children to grow up in these areas without ever having had a pair of shoes at all.

The number of barefoot orphaned children, in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, is estimated to be above 20 million.

Over 300 million children worldwide are without shoes.

Shoes are very often considered a required part of the school uniform in developing countries, and without shoes, many children are unable to attend school.

Many serious health conditions can be absorbed through the feet, even through the toughest soles. As the skin on the bottom of the feet toughens and thickens, large cracks can form, which allows parasitic infections such as hookworm and threadworm to penetrate the skin. In addition, constant cuts and scrapes to the feet and ankles frequently become infected and many of these infections can lead to ulcers and worse.

Some of the most dangerous conditions of going barefoot is the risk of puncture wounds, cuts, scrapes and burns to the feet. These injuries are almost never treated and can lead to serious infections, amputations and even death. With the number of children living in abject poverty and therefore surviving at a scavenger’s existence, the feet are at tremendous risk as the child hunts for food or household items in garbage dumps, abandoned housing/construction areas, or while crossing through open sewer trenches and contaminated areas.

In addition to infections brought on by external injuries, a child’s bare foot is particularly at risk of infection by hookworm. Especially at risk are children living in African and Southeast Asian countries, where hookworm infections are about 60 times more common.

SO – grab your old shoes and bring them to NAPO Saturday October 15 between 10-2 pm. If you cant make it, please email me and I will try to arrange getting them to our club so that we can move them forward and change a few lives in the process!

Please forward this and tell your friends, neighbors, classmates and family.

We hope to see you there and thanks in advance for your help!

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