MOUNT VERNON — In one of the e-mails Cornell College student Becky Kakac received from her soldier father in Afghanistan, he asked for more than 300 pairs of shoes.
Alan Kakac of Garrison was stationed with the Iowa Army National Guard near an orphanage overflowing with barefoot children whose parents had been killed by the Taliban. Another soldier wanted to find shoes for the children.
“My dad told him, ‘I have two very industrious daughters,’ ” recalls Becky, 20, a junior politics and economics and business major, and a 2002 graduate of Washington High School in Vinton.
Becky and her sister, Jenni Birker, 23, an insurance agent in Vinton, launched Shoes for Kids last summer. They put collection boxes in Vinton businesses, gathered shoes from church clothing drives and enlisted relatives and friends in Virginia, Kansas and Texas to do the same. In about four months they collected 1,200 pairs of shoes – including 700 in Vinton – and began shipping them to the soldiers in Afghanistan.
“It’s because of my dad’s plea for help. He doesn’t have a lot of time to send e-mails, and when he sends pictures of the children, you really can’t say no,” Becky says.
Collection boxes are available at several Mount Vernon locations Nov. 12 through Dec. 17: Cole Library on the Cornell campus, Hills Bank and Trust Company, Shepley Pharmacy, the United Methodist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Community Bible Church and Washington Elementary School. Donated shoes, either new or in good used condition, should fit boys and girls ages toddler to 15 years. If needed, the shoes will be cleaned and worn laces will be replaced, and then the pairs will be tied together before packing and mailing.
Shoes for Kids also accepts monetary donations to defray the cost of mailing shoes – around $25 per large package – to Afghanistan. Donations can be sent to the Shoes for Kids fund, Farmers Savings Bank and Trust, 401 B. Ave., Vinton, IA 52349.
Alan Kakac is due home in August, but his daughters would like the shoe drive to continue. The soldiers have been contacted by several orphanages and are working to establish long-term connections in Afghanistan that can continue to receive the shoes after troops leave.
