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As the Air Force celebrates April as the Month of the Military Child, many KMC parents are expressing the many reasons why they are proud of their children.
And the proud parents include Tech. Sgt. James Musgrave, 435th Air Ground Operations Wing safety officer, and his wife, Sugin. Their son, Joseph, is proving that military children, like their parents, hold real concern for the world around them, and they are just as willing to get involved.
Kaiserslautern High School sophomore Joseph Giorgi, 16, has been actively involved with projects like sending care packages to deployed servicemembers since he was 8. Through his parents’ guidance, Joseph has always found ways to give back to the community around him.
“Joseph and his mom were watching the news after the beginning of the Iraqi War and he could not understand how grown adults’ actions such as protesting were supporting the troops,” Joseph’s stepfather Sergeant Musgrave said. “From that moment on he decided he wanted to support service-members and has expanded that desire to help further than the gates to private citizens as well.”
Recently, after the most devastating earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years caused tremendous damage to the country, Joseph decided he wanted to do something, whatever he could to help. Looking around for an opportunity, he found shoes.
In his closet were numbers of shoes, some still with the tags on that he had simply grown out of before wearing them.
“I came up with the idea when I was searching through my closet one day, and I found more than a couple of pairs of old shoes that hardly had any wear and tear because my feet grow very fast,” he said.
This was his avenue. Joseph logged on to the Web and found a site called Soles 4 Souls.
Soles 4 Souls is a non-profit organization that works with various shoe stores to collect shoes and then distributes them to people in need.
The charity has pledged to work with other aid agencies to give 1 million pairs of shoes to the people of Haiti.
Joseph, working with his school counselor and his classmates, started the KMC Soles 4 Souls Shoe Drive, placing donation boxes in strategic areas throughout the KMC.
“This shoe drive will help people around the world, and all anyone has to do is just drop off a new or used pair of shoes or donate money to help ship the shoes,” Joseph said.
The drive runs through the end of April. For those interested in donating, bring any new or gently used shoes, or donations money for postage to one of the drop boxes located at KMC community centers.
Or if you’re just looking for more information, you can call 0631-350-6493.
