For two Sanford Hospital Canton-Inwood employees, a casual lunchroom discussion turned into a project of hope for Haitian earthquake victims.
Judy Cole, Health Information, saw a story on TV about a SDSU basketball coach gathering shoe donations and shared her interest in organizing something similar with co-worker Cheryl McCann, Business Office.
Not sure how to go about it, Cheryl contacted her nephew who works in public relations within the SDSU athletic department. He in turn agreed to see that the shoes collected in Canton would be sent to Haiti along with those that were collected at SDSU.
With all of the logistics falling into place, “We decided, ‘Let’s do it!’” said Cheryl.
A box was placed by the employee entrance door for donations. “The response was awesome,” according to Cheryl. Soon additional boxes were needed as the first one was overflowing.
Cheryl believes the success of the shoe drive is because all of the employees have a desire to help, but aren’t always quite sure how they can make a difference. “This was an easy way,” she commented.
“I would guess that when most of us go home and if we were to look into our closets, we could all probably find a pair or two of shoes that we no longer wear,”said Sanford Hospital Canton-Inwood CEO Eric Hilmoe, when encouraging employees to participate.
On average about 2 pairs per employee were donated. In all over 140 pairs of shoes were collected creating just another example of how Sanford Hospital Canton-Inwood employees live the motto Improving the Human Condition.