Shoe Delivery Team Sets New Record in Peru

By Jeremy Copeland
Edited by Emily Underwood

When we found a new shoe that fit an orphan, we gave it away – at least that was our motto! We set a new record during our Shoes for Orphan Souls trip to Peru this June – we placed 730 pairs of shoes on 730 orphans’ feet in one single day!

The day started out crazily. I headed to the chapel in Sagrada, Peru first thing in the morning to start sorting the shoes, while our Peru staff separated the kids into groups. About 60 or more teenagers were in each group with eight to 10 Buckner volunteers fitting shoes. We were moving as fast as we could to get five groups of 60 or more teenagers through the shoe station.

After the second group, someone finally brought a helpful piece of wisdom to our shoe team and suggested we only bring in 10 to 20 kids at a time. What wonderful wisdom indeed! Our stress level decreased while our time spent with each child increased, thus allowing us to visit with the teens without rushing.

And then, we realized what was about to happen. Most of the teenage girls wore the same size shoe and we were running out of the size we needed. Our Peru staff had the forethought to bring along the shoes from the previous day in case we needed more sizes. That helped tremendously, but we still were running out of shoes. And it wasn't even lunch time.

We continued to try on shoes knowing God would provide, and then sure enough he did! Claudia, our Peru director, left the orphanage mid-morning and hired a truck to go to the warehouse to get more shoes. We didn’t know this, so when she arrived just before lunch with 40 or 50 more boxes of shoes, we were completely surprised. It was the answer to our prayers! This just shows that when we pray in detail, the Lord answers in detail.

We had still not completed fitting shoes on all of the teenagers, and they were supposed to head to school after lunch. So we quickly ate our lunches and then placed the shoes on the feet of the remaining teens. Finally, around 2 p.m., we finished placing shoes on all of the teenagers, but quickly realized we had the younger kids to go. We understood that the groups size would be about 50-60 kids in each group. Now the real fun began.

As the small ones came in to get shoes, the excitement and joy on their faces was contagious. It spread to all the team members. You could see how excited the little ones were to hear VBS stories, to do crafts and to play games. Then they realized they were getting new shoes, too.Their smiles were unbelievably wide. Many of the small ones ended up with Spiderman shoes, shoes that lit up, movie theme shoes, and even Miley Cyrus shoes. The young girls really liked those!

Each child would thank us and give us a hug after getting their shoes. When the perfect pair of shoes finally fit after three or four tries, the joy from the kids was uncontainable. It is quite a scene to see 10 to 12 young boys jumping up and down when they see their new shoes light up. The laughter from our group filled the chapel.

We arrived at Sagrada with the understanding that we would not see all of the kids, so we did our best to see as many as we could. As the afternoon turned into evening, I constantly checked the clock to see what time we needed to leave. As I did this, Claudia would come to tell me we had 50 more kids and then we needed to leave. Again, after those 50, she said that there were 40 more. I finally caught on to the fact that more and more of the kids at the home were coming to get shoes.

Claudia then came to me and said, "I think we only have 40 more children."

I responded, "Forty more and then we need to go. We can leave the remaining shoes for the kids who were not here."

Claudia smiled and said, "No, Jeremy. You don't understand. Forty more and then all the kids have shoes!"

I could not believe it. This incredible group of people placed a pair of shoes on all 730 children in this home. What a blessed day for our team! In addition to the shoes, we also gave each child a small bag with school supplies and hygiene items.

The day was a humbling day for our team. We saw God in so many ways. We saw him meet the needs of each child we met. We saw God meet our need for more shoes at the exact time he wanted us to have them: not any sooner and not any later. We saw God use willing hands and feet to share his love with each and every child taking residence in this home.