The Principal at Lutheran North says,

"Yes, we turn shoes into water!"

Tim Hipenbecker

The Honor Society at Cardinal Ritter High School does not walk on water, they change shoes into water.

By J.C. WEYAND

The Weekly Messenger

George Hutchings, better known as the Shoe Man, worked with Pleasant Hill's "Sole Sisters" Rhonda McCombs and Carolyn May to donate 559 pairs of shoes to Eagle Wing Ministries. The several   month process culminated with the presentation of shoes to Hutchings at a special ceremony Saturday morning at the Pleasant Hill Christian Church.

Eagle Wing Ministries is a missions organization founded by Hutchings and based out of St. Louis, MO. Hutching has been going to Kenya since 1998, bringing shoes and medical supplies to the people in the country's most poverty stricken areas. However, due to a recent civil war and governmen­tal upheaval, shoes can no longer be shipped into the country.

Not being able to ship the shoes gave Hutchings the motivation to tackle what he calls Kenya's biggest national problem — the lack of water. "In most rural areas of Kenya, there is no running water," Hutchings said. "People have to walk miles just to get a bucket of water, usually without shoes. That's why I started shoe ministry, but realized that wasn't the heart of the problem — the root of the problem was water. I remember one woman that to this day breaks my heart. A mother was carrying a jug of water on top of her head. The water was for her children and was contaminated. She knew that, but had no other choice."

On his next trip to Kenya, Hutchings team learned  how to drill a well for fresh water. He described the process of going from shoes to water. "I can't just turn my head away from something like this," Hutchings said. "At first I didn't know anything about water. Then, I learned. If I know what the need is and know how to fix it, that makes me responsible. I had to do something to help so I could look at myself in the mirror."

Hutchings still collects shoes, but instead of directly shipping the shoes themselves, he sells the shoes in South America as a means to fund his drill rig. Last year Eagle Wing Ministries took in 156,000 lbs. of shoes and looks to get even more this year.
 

According to Hutchings even a shoe can go a long way. He said, "My motto is 'I don't want you shoes, I want your soul — your shoe sole.' In the hard economic times of today it's hard for people to get by, so I don't ask for any monetary donation. With $30,000 I can drill 40 to 50 wells in a year. Those wells will last over 30 years for a village. If you calculate that out that's 15 to 20 thousand people getting water — just one pair of shoes equals a life-time of water for one person."

Pleasant Hill Christian Church members May and McCombs heard about Hutchings' program and immediately did what they could to help. In the time they've worked, they collected 559 pairs of shoes, weighing over 600 lbs. They collected shoes from Pike, Adams, Calhoun, and Effingham counties.
 

Of the accomplishment May said, "It was just great for us to know that we were doing God's work. We hope to collect even more for next year. The whole experience has really kind of shown us that one or two people really can make a difference. If you see something you don't like, you can do something about it. Like Nike says, `Just do it."' For more information on Eagle Wing Ministries go to www.Shoeman.org

 

Rhonda McCombs, Aaron McCombs, George Hutchings, and Carolyn May earmark several bags of donated shoes for overseas delivery. McCombs and May, Pleasant Hill's "Sole Sisters," collected over 550 shoes for Hutchings' ministry. The shoes will be sold to fund the drilling of fresh water wells in Kenya.