Project Outreach hosted their shoe drive from Monday, April 8, to Friday, April 12. All of the shoes donated will be going to Changing Footprints, an organization that distributes donated shoes worldwide to underprivileged people.

          “I just hope that the shoes can make a difference. Some shoes will go on the feet of those who cannot afford them otherwise, and some will be recycled into new products or playground equipment. However small or large it may be, an impact is all we’re seeking here,” junior Keaun Brown said. “It may be as small as a child running atop of the rubber mats that our action helped create or it be a homeless man able to walk down the street without having pebbles dig into socks.”

          The club collected 350 pairs of shoes in their first ever shoe drive and all were donated to those in need. Due to the success of the shoe drive, the club plans to continue the event for years to come with the same amount of success.

          “I believe the shoe drive went spectacularly. We raised 350 pairs of shoes. If we continue the shoe drive, we will be able to collect even more. We would have a better understanding of how to work the shoe drive and accomplish more,” sophomore Stephanie Cirilo Ramirez said.

          Changing Footprints is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2005. The organization has distributed over 75 tons and 180,000 pairs of shoes to 20 different countries. The shoes are given to anyone in need, such as the homeless, the underprivileged and the disaster-stricken people.

          Project Outreach, the hosts of the Warren Central Shoe Drive, is a club that was founded two years ago by Keaun Brown, in an attempt to help the community. Project Outreach strives to help those in need and plans to make a positive impact in today's society.

          “I grew tired of seeing disenfranchised individuals reach out and attempt to grasp a resemblance of security to protect them from the onslaught of life, only to grab thin air. I grew tired of seeing no one attempting to truly make a proactive change, having lost their sense of empathy in a diffusion of responsibility,” Brown said. “That’s why I started Project Outreach. I had the mindset that if I could just help one person in the slightest, even if only for a moment, than it would all be worth it.”

          Project Outreach is always accepting new members and encourages students who wish to make a positive impact in their society to join. Everyone is welcome to attend meetings every Thursday in room G112 immediately after school.

          “It gives students a chance to get involved, especially if they're not already involved in a group, like Student Council or National Honors Society, to get involved in the community, to get involved at Warren Central and to learn the importance of giving back and doing what you can,” sponsor Jenny Duguid said.

          Although Brown will be graduating next year, he has high hopes and ambitions for the future   of the club. He has full faith in the club to continue where he left off and is glad of what it has accomplished these past few years.

          “When my time here at Warren is said and done, I have not a doubt in mind that the individuals of Outreach will continue to strive to be that difference in someone's life. I have the utmost faith that we will continue to embody the change we all wish to see in this world. In fact, I have already chosen the student who will take over the Organization when I have departed, and I have never been more confident in any decision I’ve made,” Brown said.