The Giving Tree Project
Branching Out
From the inception of the project, the underlying idea was that once the first stage was complete, the Stovall family and students from John Wesley would actively seek out local churches to pass on the idea. Just as a tree grows multiple branches to bear fruit from multiple sources, so the Giving Tree seeks to grow by assisting other local youth ministries to develop their own fruit bearing projects.
Project Scope
Students from John Wesley along with the Stovall family will seek out 4-5 area churches with active youth ministries to participate in the Giving Tree project. From the Shannon Stovall memorial fund, youth groups will be given $1,000 of seed money for a hands on local mission project, designed and created by those youth ministries. Students at John Wesley will actively support these groups in any capacity that will help to nurture and grow the project to fulfillment. Each local youth ministry that receives the seed money will be required to develop a project that will increase the initial investment and carry out a hands on local mission project with the proceeds, prior to the In Shannon Shoe’s Fundraiser at the end of September.
John Wesley UMC Project - The Barefoot Mile
In the fall of 2008, the Stovall’s brought an idea to CYM to take something small, grow it and make a big difference. They proposed an idea to give youth groups $1,000 and see what they could do to grow the money and make a difference in their community.
The youth of John Wesley decided to take on the challenge first themselves. During Sunday school throughout December the students began brainstorming what they could do that would really help others and make an impact on their community. Not all of the ideas were good. The group did have to come to the agreement that it wasn’t feasible for us to run a chicken farm to sell eggs and feed the hungry, or to start breeding seeing eye dogs for blind children.
After much brainstorming a common theme began to form. The students wanted to make a difference in the lives of Houston’s homeless population. As they evaluated the needs of that population they came to the conclusion that everyone deserves adequate footwear, but not everyone has it.
The First Project Sprouts
The John Wesley students in the first quarter of 2009 planned and implemented "The Barefoot Mile." The project consisted of 3 parts:
- A shoe drive to collect new and lightly used shoes from people in the congregation.
- Corporate sponsors to match the original $1,000 dollars in seed money.
- Students would walk a mile barefoot and get people to sponsor them.
First Fruits
The Barefoot Mile was an amazing success. The students raised $10,791 on top of the original $1,000 from the Shannon Stovall Memorial fund and over 600 pairs of shoes. The money that was raised went to buy TOMS shoes. For every pair of TOMS that is purchased the company gives a pair to a child in South America or Africa. We purchased over 285 pair to give to Houston homeless, and 285 pairs will be given to children in other countries. Locally shoes have and will continue to be given to homeless through hands on efforts with St. Johns UMC downtown as well as Star of Hope Mission. In total more than 1170 pairs of shoes will be given away through this project.