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Local church donates Payless Shoes gift cards for refugees coming to Wichita in August 2016.

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In August, the members of St. George’s Orthodox Cathedral donated Payless Shoe Source Gift Cards to the ̽����ѡ in Wichita. The idea behind this gesture was to provide ̽����ѡ’s newest clients with a new pair of shoes. Member’s from the church’s “Done in a Day” committee came to the ̽����ѡ, toured the ̽����ѡ office and then assisted a few ̽����ѡ clients with helping them find the correct sizes and assisting them to navigate the shoe store.

Each client was given an opportunity to pick out the shoes they wanted. In doing so, the clients selected every type of shoe from Spiderman shoes to Disney character shoes, athletic shoes, dress shoes, stylish men’s boots and furry boots. The clients proudly wore their new shoes straight out of the store or carried them in their shoe boxes.

“I got the idea for donating the gift cards while volunteering with the ̽����ѡ. I had taken a couple pairs of my children’s shoes to a family who I noticed needed shoes. The children were so thrilled to have the shoes, I thought that this might be something that my church could help out with”, said Mikell Awwad, a member of the St. George’s Done in a Day committee and also an ̽����ѡ volunteer.

For many refugees, having new shoes is luxury. All new refugees are given an opportunity to pick out items that they would like to have from the ̽����ѡ’s donation shop. But it is often hard to find the correct shoe sizes for everyone and the ̽����ѡ runs out of typical sizes very quickly. We are grateful to the members of St. George’s Cathedral for this thoughtful gesture.

The ̽����ѡ in Wichita resettles about 300 refugees this year. For more information about donating to the ̽����ѡ in Wichita, please contact Nayu Wilson, In-Kind Donation Coordinator, at Nayu.Wilson@Rescue.org or 316-558-8739.