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                   It All Started With The Shoes

                                                                  

 

 

 

Text Box: It all started with a 16 year old Montreal high school student who, after hearing a Youth Millennium Project presentation on making a difference in the world, decided that every child should own a pair of shoes.  Stephanie Dotto and her friend Jennifer Goehring  proceeded to collect over 1200 pairs of gently used shoes from local elementary schools with the goal of sending them to the country of Malawi in central Africa. Determined to learn more about the plight of Malawians, they met with some local Malawian contacts and  received an invitation to visit a Montreal Sister of the Immaculate Conception and a missionary couple from Scarboro Missions who were working in Malawi.  In March of 2003, after fundraising to take 400 pounds of antibiotics, vitamins, and other medicines as well as school supplies, soccer balls and Frisbees, 16-year-old Stephanie set out for 10 days in Malawi. It was a life-altering experience.  Stephanie came back with a mission to further help the Malawian people by fundraising to provide desperately needed medical and educational support. Stephanie has now visited Malawi 3 times and will return again in April of 2008.  In the last 4 years, with the help of Montreal businesses, churches, schools, Girl Guide units and other generous individuals, the results have been incredible.  A new elementary school has been built to accommodate 400 children, 2 other schools have received new roofs.  A small rural hospital has a new nutrition center with 2 kitchens - one for patient meals and one for teaching.  Medicines - from Health Partners International of Canada, enough to treat over 10,000 people for a year have been hand-delivered by Stephanie and her father during 3 trips and orphans in northern Malawi have been provided with nutritional supplements in their food.  Three containers full of school supplies, computers, quilts, linens for the hospitals, clothing and, yes, shoes, have also been sent and distributed to thousands of needy people.         Stephanie has founded It All Started With The Shoes which is currently seeking charitable    status.  She has given more than 100 presentations to schools and community groups to increase awareness on the plight of the Malawian people.   Check out the Our Projects link for more information on our completed projects as well as some exciting new project that  you might want to get involved with.