By MADELINE REIDA

Staff writer

Peabody Warriors Booster Club has had surprising luck with a fundraiser it started Sept. 11.

“When we first started talking about this fundraiser, I heard we had to collect 2,500 pairs of shoes, and I wasn’t sure if we could do that,” booster club member Ann Leppke said. “But then we looked around at each other, and one lady said, ‘I can come up with 50 pairs and my mother-in-law can come up with 50 pairs’.”

They have collected 150 pairs so far. Kid’s shoes, tennis shoes, boots, high heels, flip-flops, and even football and soccer cleats have been donated.

“The only stipulation is they can’t have rips or holes in them,” Leppke said. “So if the soles are worn out, they don’t want those.”

The booster club partnered with Funds2Orgs, which collects used and new shoes to ship overseas to businesses owned by impoverished people. The businesses, in turn, sell the shoes for a profit.

Funds2Orgs provided bags and rubber bands to collect the shoes in, and will be sending a truck for shipping at the end of the fundraiser.

If the booster club does not meet their goal of 2,500 shoes by Nov. 11, they will have to pay for shipping, Leppke said.

“Once homecoming is over, we plan to push that really hard because we have about one more month of trying to come up with those shoes,” she said. “If it goes well, we might try again in a couple years when people’s shoe supplies pick back up.”

Leppke joined the booster club after retiring to help Peabody’s students with their fund-raising.

“I just retired from teaching in May, and you get hit up for every possible fundraiser as a teacher,” she said. “If you have a high school person with a little brother or sister, and they’re selling stuff for Parent-Teacher organizations or Girl Scouts, they hit you up, too. We hope to alleviate some of the fundraising responsibilities from our teachers and coaches so they can keep teaching and coaching.”

Collection boxes for shoes are set up in Peabody at Vintage Bank, CK Pharmacy, Hatton’s Hometown Hardware, The Wringer, and ManeStreet Beautique.