Rose Garden Resident
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Teen collects 432 pairs of shoes for Sacred Heart community project
By Susan Carothers
In the beginning, Gianna Maietta wanted to collect 100 pairs of used shoes for a community project. In the end, and in less than two weeks, she gathered 432 pairs of used shoes and received a lifelong lesson in giving.
"It was just so much," Gianna says. "I couldn't believe how many shoes I got."
Gianna never anticipated that her efforts would trigger such an outpouring of support.
The 13-year old and eighth-grader at St. Leo the Great School was inspired to collect old shoes for the needy after she and her mother, Carrie, read a magazine article about a similar project in Chicago.
Mother and daughter had never heard of a project like it in San Jose, so Gianna decided to try in her Willow Glen neighborhood and at her school after presenting the idea to Sister Susan Barry at St. Leo's.
Barry saw the project as a lesson in community service and something positive for the school.
"We had heard of clothes and warm coat drives," said Carrie Maietta, "but never old shoes."
The Maietta family contributes old shoes every three months to Sacred Heart Community Service, a San Jose-based nonprofit agency, thanks to Gianna's 15-year-old brother, Michael, who grows out of his shoes rapidly.
So the family figured Willow Glen has plenty of growing children and families who would be willing to donate their old shoes for a charitable cause. The idea snowballed and drew accolades from donors.
"Our street is loaded down with kids," says Gianna, who had one neighbor who donated eight bags of shoes.
The response was so great the family had to take the seats out of the van so they could deliver all of the shoes to the Sacred Heart Community Service.
Gianna credits the shoe drive success to a flier she created. It read, "Share Your Heart and Share Your Soles." She distributed more than 500 fliers throughout her neighborhood and at school.
She added to the flier that most people have at least one pair of extra shoes hiding at the back of their closet that they don't wear. She requested that families donate gently worn tennis shoes, casual shoes or soccer shoes. Word of mouth spread rapidly about the campaign. Within a few days, her mother suggested increasing her goal from 100 to 200 pairs of shoes.
"After collecting several bags each day for just over one week, we believed she had far exceeded that goal," Maietta says. "Our garage was full of shoes, and Gianna even received notes with the shoes that said, 'What a wonderful project,' and 'Why hadn't that been thought of before?' "
Gianna, who attended Booksin and Willow Glen elementary schools before going to St. Leo's, hopes to enter Presentation High School in the fall and has aspirations of becoming a teacher.
"I really enjoy teaching and helping others," Gianna says.
