Girl, 6, ships thousands of shoes to Haiti

May 9, 2012 (LOCKPORT, Ill.) (WLS) -- Since last October, 6-year-old Calei Clark and her mom have been collecting, packing and shipping shoes to Haiti.

"Well, we're donating all these shoes for Haiti and just for Haiti. For those kids and moms and dads and for the boys and girls," Calei said.

There are still more than a million homeless people in Haiti. They have lost everything: their homes, their clothing their everythings.

"Calei and I were overwhelmed by the devastation in Haiti and she really bugged me for a good couple of months and she really wanted to do something for the Haiti people. So I researched some way we could help -- and shoes came up," Jeni Clark, Calei's mom, said.

And the shoes came up in amazing numbers. The Lockport mother and daughter team has collected more than 2,000 pairs now that ultimately will end up on the feet of those who need them more than we do.

"They have no shoes so ... and they need shoes. They go through garbage dumps to find food with no shoes," Calei said.

"It's very overwhelming. Very overwhelming the kindness of complete strangers. Yeah, I'll tell you it's been quite a journey," Jeni Clark said.

The boxes of shoes are being collected by a Chicago organization called Friends Of The Orphans. They will be sent Haiti by ship and distributed to the needy.

"We saw awesome pictures of the shoes we boxed up in the hands of the kids there in Haiti with smiles on their faces. And to think those are the actual shoes we boxed up and it's pretty phenomenal," Jeni Clark said.

Their shoe drive is over. Now they'll start collecting water and medicines for the group, friendsoftheorphans.org.

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