- October 14, 2024
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For 13 years, Matthew Monroe has been asking for shoes on his birthday.
Monroe has likely collected at least 8,000 shoes in that span of time — all for Soles4Souls, a nonprofit that distributes shoes to those in need worldwide. And seeing as Monroe recently celebrated his 18th birthday and will be away at college for his next one, this year's collection efforts will be the last he takes on in Ormond Beach.
Monroe said he's excited and hoping to make this year's shoe drive a good one.
"I think what has kept me going is just knowing that what I'm doing is making a difference," Monroe said. "And getting to see it spread and have all these new people involved and see them get to enjoy doing the same thing has been really a driver for it. That makes the work worth it."
The Spruce Creek High School senior began holding donation drives for his birthday when he turned 5 years old. That year, he asked his friends to bring pet food to his birthday, with the aim of donating the items to a pet pantry in Atlanta, where he and his family lived at the time. Prior to his next birthday, he heard about a shoe donation and he then shifted his focus.
He'd like this year's collection to be the biggest. In past years, his collection has surpassed 1,000 shoes. It's gotten a little harder to track the specific number of shoes his donation drive collects for the nonprofit, as some people have chosen to ship them directly to Soles4Souls in his name.
A few years ago, the nonprofit sent him a poster of someone with a pair of donated shoes.
"That to me was just a really powerful moment," Monroe said. "To see the actual impact and get to see someone wearing the shoes, it put a face to sort of the thing that I've been doing, which I think was really amazing."
Monroe's mother, Cynthia Petrie Monroe said she's often come home to see random bags of shoes left at their front door. People in the community look forward to the drive, she said.
"It's wonderful for him to see that he's made a difference," Petrie Monroe said. "For other people to want to help has seriously given him a sense of community, that people call and know about it and remember all year."
For her, she sees her son's shoe drive as not just an opportunity to help people in need, but for people locally who are looking for ways to teach their children about doing good deeds.
Monroe — who is enrolled in his school's IB program, is active in theatre and was named Mr. Spruce Creek 2023 — hopes to continue holding shoe drives in college, but he'd also like to see the Ormond Beach donation drive continue. Monroe is seeking a student to hand off the shoe drive, so that it may continue without him. The ideal candidate would be a student in fifth or sixth grade that can commit to hosting the drive until they graduate. Those interested should call 678-525-3160.
"I think everybody plays a role in the future of our community and in the future of other people's communities, and we can all do whatever we can to contribute," he said.
Once in college, Monroe said he hopes to pursue research biology, and is considering teaching higher education one day.
