Little Kid, Big Heart: Manassas Boy Collects Hundreds of Shoes for Charity

Not many 7-year-old boys would forgo having a birthday party with cake, gifts and games in lieu of collecting old shoes for charity, but that's exactly what Weems Elementary School student Tey Barbour did.

For his April birthday, he managed to collect 741 pairs of shoes—and seven single shoes—for Soles4Souls, a charity that collects new and worn shoes to help those in poverty.

He also collected $660 in donated funds for the cause, his mother, Michelle Martin, said.

Tey first expressed interest in giving instead of receiving for his birthday while accompanying his mother to Goodwill for a donation drop off.

"He said, 'Mommy? Are any of my toys in there?'" Martin said. "I said, 'No but you might want to go through your toys before your birthday.' and I said, " You know, Tey you probably don't need any toys for your birthday' and he said, 'I want shoes.'"

At first she was irritated because she thought he wanted new shoes for himself, even though he'd just gotten a new pair, Martin said.

"He said, 'No, I want shoes for kids who don't have any,'" she said.

He'd apparently gotten the idea to give from a Disney program, Martin said.

She thought her then-6-year-old would change his mind as his birthday drew closer, but he maintained that he wanted to collect shoes for those who needed them.

What started as a small birthday party, with family and friends bringing shoes instead of gifts expanded to Tey collecting shoes from his teachers, with the help of his teacher Allison Scott.

"Ooo and she liked my catch phrase," Tey said. "I Love Shoes For Charity."

Tey and his mom put a poster board advertising the shoe drive and a decorated collect box in the teacher's lounge at Weems.  

Martin's co-workers at AOL in Manassas even donated shoes to the cause.  AOL is the Parent company of Patch.

The boxes of shoes were stored in his living room, Tey said. "They were in little boxes and big boxes," he said.

So many shoes were collected that a pallet was needed to ship it to the charity, Martin said.
To save money, Martin and a friend rented a truck and drove the shoes to Maryland where  the nearest Sole4Souls drop-off center is located.

"He's already asking if he can do something like this next year for his birthday," Martin said. " ... we're on the lookout for another charity we can help. I think we are looking at Kids for Cancer."

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