I am trying to start a local shoe collection for kids in Ghana. My school and the city of Louisville is affiliated with the city of Tamale, Ghana and a school system there. A class of students from my school recently visited there and brought back several pictures. As I was looking at these pictures, I noticed something. The kids were participating in a cross country race. First, most runners did not have shoes and most ran in socks or barefoot. Secondly, they had no stopwatches or any other device to measure time. They simply looked at a cell phone when the race started and looked again as people crossed the finish line. Third, their track is made of dirt. A local towns person took farming machines and dug lines and numbers into the ground to create a track.
My school recently donated soccer equipment to the kids, as they were in desperate need. After seeing these pictures and the state of these phenomenal runners, I wanted to help. Being an endurance athlete, I want to better the quality of the endurance sports for these kids. My goal is to collect several pairs of gently used/new running shoes for the kids in Ghana. Additionally, I would like to collect stopwatches or just watches for the kids. I will hopefully be going to Ghana in December to deliver what ever has been collected.
Does anyone have experience with mass community involvement/community service? I want to get the city of Louisville involved to increase awareness of our partnership with Ghana. I mainly want to go to some of the local races and running shops. Does anyone have any suggestions/advice? I’m not sure where to start or how to approach the race directors and store owners. I really want to do something to help these kids. My eventual goal is to build a track there.
Thanks for your help! It is greatly appreciated.