At Milestone, we believe in the power of relationships and doing the right thing- always. Every project is devoted to enriching lives. For us, our work is an avenue to enact positive change and build lasting relationships in the communities we serve.
Cathy Wethington, a steward in keeping her eyes open for opportunity to make an impact in her communities, read an article in the Boone County Reporter in 2016 about Boone County Solid Waste collecting shoes and donating them to Changing Footprints. Knowing that she had shoes in her closet that could be donated, she thought that Milestone could come together as a company to help Boone County’s efforts. She paired up with Milestone team members to spread the word and the shoes started rolling in from our generous employees, friends, and family members.
In our first year, we collected a total of 144 pairs of shoes. The next year, we collected over 1,059 pairs of shoes and won first place as the group that collected the most. We have won this honor four more times since. For several years, Cathy and many Milestone volunteers would load up thousands of shoes and drop them off to the smiling faces at Boone County Solid Waste.
2024 Unloading Volunteers
As the years continue, each February we hold our annual Shoe Drive. As of this year, we have collected over 12,121 pairs of shoes throughout our annual shoe drives donated to Changing Footprints.
Changing Footprints is a non-profit organization that collects new and gently used shoes for distribution to homeless, disaster-stricken, or underprivileged people locally, nationally, and internationally. They have five warehouses in Indiana and work with many missions to distribute shoes all over the world. Since their start over 320,000 pairs of shoes have been donated across the United States and to over 21 countries. If shoes are no longer in wearable condition, they are donated to Nike’s Grind program to be recycled into materials for playground mulch or other materials to keep them out of the landfills.
Unique shoes donated this year!
Thank you to Tommie Bell with DC Construction, Sarah Synesael and teachers from Woodland Elementary School, Allison Stroud and teachers from Garden City Elementary School, and all the wonderful people here at Milestone and across the THG family for donating 2,146 pairs of shoes in 2024, a record year. Our tenth annual shoe drive will be held next February. Can we top 2,146? We accept your shoe donations at any time of the year at our Decatur Blvd Location in Indianapolis. Thank you for helping make lives better one pair at a time.
Learn more about how Milestone prioritizes giving back to the communities by watching our video below!