Starting Thursday, the Little Rock Fire Department is partnering with a nonprofit to collect shoes, the sale of which will benefit a clean drinking water initiative for citizens of Haiti.
Donation boxes at every Little Rock fire station, as well as City Hall, will be set out from Thursday through April 5 to accept gently used shoes. Any type — from dress shoes to flip-flops — will be accepted as long as they are a matching pair.
Shoes will be exported and sold, with the proceeds going to drill new wells, repair existing wells and install water purification systems in Haiti.
The Fire Department has partnered with the Ozark Water Project on the initiative.
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Ozark Water Project is based in Little Rock. It organizes the collection of shoes and then is paid .35 cents per pound by exporters who ship them to micro-businesses across the world.
More information on the Little Rock shoe drive is available by calling Melissa Peabody at (501) 350-6992.
There will be a 10 a.m. kick-off event Thursday at the Central Fire Station, 624 S. Chester St.