Little Soles
The Little Soles display, an artistic project by founders Rosemary O’Connor and Ron Van Tassel of Kankakee, IL, was inspired by a similar display the artists saw at a retreat.
Each of the almost 4k baby shoes (current count 3,339), sizes 0-3, represents 1 child’s life ended by abortion daily in the US. The display is circulated throughout the Midwest….
The project began with a request for shoes to local churches and individuals followed by a mass mailing.
Most shoes were sent a few pairs at a time by children, individuals, church groups, families, and single mothers. Shoes have come from various states including CA, CO, and NE.
Little Soles encourages a witness when seeking shoes for the ongoing project:
Collecting shoes can be a positive opportunity to talk about abortion, adoption, and reverence for life at all ages. Those who might not otherwise have a venue for this discussion are able to talk to those at garage sales, resale shops, and to family members and friends.
Many of the shoes come with a story, some sad. Those pictured on the left came from a grandparent, whose daughter became pregnant while receiving radiation for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She chose to discontinue the chemo therapy and all treatment to save her baby’s life, against her doctor’s advice to abort. The young mother died when her baby was 9 months old….
If interested in helping with the display either by donating time, money, or shoes, please email littlesolesdisplay@gmail.com for more information.
To donate shoes, please send used or new shoes in sizes 0-3, fastened together with a zip tie, to:
St. Rose of Lima
Attn: Little Soles
486 W. Merchant St.
Kankakee, Illinois 60901
[HT: Arlene Sawicki]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Rebecca Porter from Operation Outcry began the baby shoe memorials with “Cry Without A Voice” which she began in 2005. http://www.acrywithoutavoice.com/about.html
It is a great way to show the impact of abortion….glad to see others are doing it as well…
My mother was born in Kankakee, guess I’ll have to give those folks an email/visit.
This is truly heartbreaking. It would have even more of an impact to see it in person. What a tragedy that thousands of babies are being killed every single day.
Each and every one of those pairs of shoes could have been donated to needy children instead of used to make a political point.
LOL, HA!
It’s not often I agree with HA, but couldn’t they have collected those shoes for a better purpose such as for children in need to wear?
Just imagine how many children would be provided for with over 14k shoes.
Great, Rachael and HA! If you want to start a project collecting shoes for needy children, I’ll be glad to donate.
Just tell me where to send them once you get your project going.
Oh, btw, most of those shoes donated are “infant” shoes…they don’t have hard soles. Kids don’t actually need those types of shoes. Once children begin walking, they need the hard-soled kind.
Judas: that costly ointment she just tipped all over you could have been sold and the money given to the poor.
Jesus: you have the poor with you always.
If you want to start a project collecting shoes for needy children, I’ll be glad to donate.
Just tell me where to send them once you get your project going.
I second that.
And HA, it was not a political point being made, but a moral point.
I have seen Cry Without a Voice. You can hardly believe the sight of all of those tiny pairs of shoes laid out with notes from their Mommies and Daddies. Row after row after row….it takes your breath away and is a fitting reminder of the children we have killed and those that will die today.
Actually a co-worker and I already are working on a project for the needy. We are putting together basic care bags (with hygiene items, a protein-based dry food item, and seasonal items such as gloves or a sun cap) to distribute to the homeless at shelters and food kitchens. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Also I forgot to mention we would includd a small card with the phone numbers and addresses for social service organizations. After all, we’re always going to have the poor and homeless with us, we can at least try to give them a better quality of life.
Rachael, I commend you for helping the homeless. It’s a very worthy cause. We have a mission here in town and our church is the “church home” for the director and all the men and women who are served there. So many have had their lives turned around when they come to know Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I wonder how you’d feel if someone said of your project, “those things would be better donated here” or “you could have instead donated money for drug treatment programs,” etc.
We are all called to different missions in life. I say this to some of my very critical environmentalist friends who don’t understand why I’d try to spend my time on behalf of the unborn (and other people around the world through child sponsorship and missions giving, etc).
I think we all need to be Christ’s hands and feet. This Little Soles project can bring healing to families as well as a realization of the impact of our choices in this life. It’s very important that we acknowledge that.
Kel, I need to get to bed so I will have to comment on that later. However, anyone more interested in the project I’m working on or how they can donate can find more information at my blog, additional details coming
Come on those who are putting this display down… use your heads! How many 0-3 month olds need shoes?! They aren’t walking around, and they keep ’em on for about 20 seconds everytime you put them on.
I think the display is powerful and heart breaking. Don’t forget, had the children killed today have lived… in 15.5-18.5 years they’d be paying your Social Security checks.
Don’t forget about the 1/3 of my generation wiped out who would’ve been paying for the past 10-13 years for you. (majority of pro-abortion people are over 50 anyhow…)
Rachael, I commend you for helping the homeless. It’s a very worthy cause. We have a mission here in town and our church is the “church home” for the director and all the men and women who are served there. So many have had their lives turned around when they come to know Jesus Christ.
Thank you, I look forward to putting this all together, starting with getting in touch with some of the local shelter directors and collecting donations.
Therefore, I wonder how you’d feel if someone said of your project, “those things would be better donated here” or “you could have instead donated money for drug treatment programs,” etc.
We are all called to different missions in life…
I don’t see why you got defensive and singled out HA and I to start such a project when it should be everyone’s perogrative to assist the needy and poor in their community, not just ones you political disagree with (this reminds me of the pro-choicer argument where pro-lifers should adopt all the unwanted babies), and that goes for both pro-life and pro-choice. However, I can see where you were offended. It may be true, everyone can contribute something, however…
I think we all need to be Christ’s hands and feet. This Little Soles project can bring healing to families as well as a realization of the impact of our choices in this life. It’s very important that we acknowledge that.
I think this “art project” is more about making a political statement and I have a feeling more post-abortion women would view it as that than see it as a genuine and respectful memorial for their loss. Let me poll the girls at the PASS Support Site and get back to you…
Intially I was under the impression the shoes being used for this project were both the soft-soled kind and hard-soled toddler shoes, thank you for clearifying. However, even though infants don’t need shoes for walking, shoes provide protection for little feet from extreme weather conditions (snow, rain, cold, hot/dry weather, etc).
Rachael C.