Marshall High School 10th grader Corrine Moini is in her third year of collecting shoes for students in Timber Lane Elementary School in Falls Church, where two thirds of the population is on free or reduced lunches.
"I wanted to do something that would help people directly and I wanted to do something in my area," said Corrine. The idea to collect shoes came from a trip to the Bahamas with her mother in eighth grade. Corrine noticed that due to the poverty on the islands, many of the local children ran in the streets barefooted.
According to Assad Moini, Corrine’s father, she learned the importance of community service from her older brother Michael, a 2005 Marshall graduate and in his third year at Virginia Tech. While in high school, Michael Moini joined the Vienna Volunteer Fire and Rescue squad, and was also involved in a number of other volunteering efforts in the community. "He did lots of volunteer work junior and senior year of high school," said Assad Moini. While Corrine learned from her brother, she wanted to do something on her own, said her father.
In 2005 Corrine founded "Shoes for School." Cindy Moini, Corrine’s mother, said that in the past two years Corrine collected about 150 pairs of new or barely used shoes for Timber Lane students. The goal this year is to collect 200 pairs by Aug. 26. About 800 notices on the effort have been distributed around Vienna neighborhoods, and gift cards were collected from local Target and Wall Mart stores. On Aug. 18 Corrine will hold a bake sale at North Point Shopping Center in Reston to raise money for the effort. A drop box has been approved at the Vienna Community Center.
"Please keep up the good work," Cindy Moini said is the reaction of the family’s Vienna neighbors. The Moinis have lived in Vienna for more than 15 years. Cindy Moini said that two neighborhood girls, eight and 10 years old, sold their own toys and donated the money to "Shoes for School" last year. Corrine’s plan is to continue collecting shoes through high school and then pass the work on to someone else. This year a Madison High School freshman and Corrine’s friend of 12 years, Katie Junghann, became the "Shoes for School" treasurer.