'Soles for Souls'

Within the first week of placing an oversized shoe made of cardboard and covered in multicolored felt and faux fur at the Oceanside Jewish Center, Ilana Blumenthal, 12, collected over 100 pairs of donated shoes. “I've seen snow boots, I've seen dancing shoes, high-heels, sneakers....there's just about everything,” Ilana said. The collection project, which Ilana is calling Soles for Souls, will continue now through June, and is part of her Bat Mitzvah project. All of the shoes will eventually be shipped to the Ukraine and given to children and adults in need.

Ilana is working with Myriam's Dream, Inc., a non-profit organization that helps raise money and provide grants to philanthropic efforts all over the world. President Linda Kantor explained that the organization was founded in honor of Myriam Mendilow, a school teacher in Jerusalem who helped create work programs for the elderly and the disabled, to help restore their dignity and inspire younger generations to respect their predecessors.

“We are delighted that Ilana took on this project and that she has been so successful,” said Kantor, who told her about the need for shoes in the Ukraine and put her in touch with another organization that Myriam's Dream works with called Action for Post-Soviet Jewry. Ilana will ship the shoes she collects to Judy Patkin, a member of ASPJ in Boston. Patkin will then send them to the Ukraine for distribution. She explained that clothing and shoes are always needed there, especially during the cold winter months. Most of the shoes Ilana collects will go to Jewish day schools for children. Patkin also plans to connect Ilana with a pen pal in the country so she can keep in touch.

Ilana's family is originally from the Ukraine, and she first found out about the work done by Myriam's Dream through her older sister Alyssa, 16, who collected backpacks and school supplies for the group for her own Bat Mitzvah project. “I know that I'm very fortunate,” Ilana said. “So I felt compelled to do this.”