Students and families donated gently used footwear during a Soles4Good shoe drive held May 8 in the Munger Library. Organized by Soles4Good leaders Alexander Ahn ’28 and Jack Hong ’29, the drive encouraged members of the Harvard-Westlake community to contribute shoes that will help support people in need.
For Ahn, the idea for bringing the drive to campus came from a desire to create an accessible way for students to make a difference.
“I was inspired to kickstart the drive because I wanted to create a way for students to give back to communities in a simple but meaningful way,” Ahn said. “Since I had been connected to Soles4Good from a young age, I knew how impactful even donating one pair of shoes could be.”
Soles4Good is a student-run nonprofit organization that collects donated shoes and works to provide opportunities for underserved communities. The May 8 drive gave students a chance to support that mission through a simple act of donation.
As an operations officer for the organization, Ahn said he was drawn to both its purpose and its student-led structure.
“I connected personally with its mission of providing shoes and opportunities to communities in need,” Ahn said. “I also really admired that it is completely student run, which makes the impact feel even more meaningful and community driven.”
The drive received support from students and families across campus. According to Hong, seeing the community come together reinforced the importance of the project.
“I realized the project could make a real impact when I saw how many students and families were willing to donate and support the drive,” Hong said. “It showed me that small contributions from a community can add up to help a lot of people.”
With this year’s drive complete, Hong and Ahn hope to continue expanding the program’s reach.
“Our goal is to increase participation across the school and collect even more shoes than previous years,” Hong and Ahn said. “I also hope to strengthen partnerships with other schools and build a larger network of student-led drives across Los Angeles.”
The event showcased how a community-wide effort can turn small contributions into meaningful impact. Through the drive, students had the opportunity to support a student-led organization while helping extend resources to communities beyond campus.
