Pennsylvania Couple Fills Many Shoes,
Gives Many Away

By Jenny Pope
Buckner International

Most shoe drives involve dozens, maybe hundreds, of generous people – shoe drive organizers, donors, packers and sorters, shippers, promoters and encouragers. But Nyle and Ruth Jean Hershberger learned to simplify things. They fill all those shoes on their own.

The Johnstown, Pa. couple first heard about Shoes for Orphan Souls three years ago through He’s Alive Christian Radio, based in Grantsville, Md.

“My wife was listening to the radio and she said, ‘Let’s do some of those,’” Nyle said. “So we did. And it’s grown every year. I don’t know how many shoes we collected that first year, but this year we collected 2,000 pairs.”

The couple frequently stops at area retail stores, such as Wal-Mart, K-mart, Value Cities, Famous Footwear, PayLess Shoe Source and more, to stock up on anything marked on sale. A friend who is manager at the local Wal-Mart even calls them when shoes get marked down.

“Every place we go we stop at shoe stores,” he said. “When you buy 10 pairs here, 15 there, 2 here, 5 there… it adds up. Our attic storage is almost full. So we’re going to have to start stacking them on our porch.”

Ruth Jean also collects the shoe boxes to provide to members of their church who participate in Operation Christmas Child.

Every summer, the couple makes a pilgrimage from Johnstown to Cumberland, Md. where they drop off their shoe collection at Grace Memorial Baptist Church. They fill two vans with shoes – a culmination of the year’s shopping efforts.

The couple, married 57 years, said they have no plans to stop collecting shoes.

“We love to do it,” Nyle said. “[We’ll do it] ‘til we drop. God has blessed us so that we’re able to do this.”