0 he grew up in
the hills of west-
ern Colorado and
planned to be a
nurse. But Ranya Kel-
ly has come to be
known across the
nation as "The
Shoe Lady" for
her massive ef-
forts to inspire
retail outlets to
donate old mer-
chandise rather
than throw it away.
About 11 years ago, the
Grand Junction, Colo., native
was looking for a box to wrap a
Christmas present and discov-
ered a dumpster full of 500

pairs of shoes imperfectly good
condition.
"When I realized things were
being dumped in the trash, us-
able items such as shoes and
clothing and bedding, I couldn't
believe it," said Mrs. Kelly. "Re-
tail stores either dump it, de-
stroy it or sometimes donate —
if it's not going to hurt their
business."
At first, Mrs. Kelly gave the
items to needy family and
friends because "I didn't really
have a clue there were families
[in need]."
But now she knows. After a
visit to a Denver homeless shel-
ter, Mrs. Kelly realized how far-
reaching the need was.

"I saw ladies standing in the
doorway with no shoes on, and
it was 10 below outside, in Jan-
uary."
Mrs. Kelly began calling re-

stincts told me they were tak-
ing the items and getting rid of
them [in the garbage]. Most of
the time that was the truth."
Since then, Mrs. Kelly has or-

Left: Coats and blankets ready to load on a truck
heading for a soup kitchen in Detroit.

Above: Blair Kommel, Aleks Dubov and
Lindsay Canvasser sort coats for distribution.

tailers and asking if they had
items that were no longer
saleable. "A lot of them would
say, 'Well, we already donate.'
I said, 'Where?' and they
couldn't really tell me where
they were donating. My in-

ganized huge drives to distrib-
ute, through organizations for
the needy, items that stores
deem no longer saleable. What
began as a local Denver effort
has reached across the country,
with Mrs. Kelly going to na-

tional conferences to introduce
herself, and her goals, to other
communities.
Which is how she met Tem-
ple Beth El's Rabbi Daniel
Syme — at a Conference on Al-
ternatives in Jewish Education.
This year, the Shoe Lady ob-
tained 15,000 coats, 500 pairs
of shoes, 5,000 pounds of flour
and various clothing, house-
wares and baby equipment for
a Christmas coat drive in De-
troit. Representatives from De-
troit agencies arrived to pick up
items only moments after the
truck was fully unloaded at a
Royal Oak warehouse on Dec.
21.
Young and old, the Detroit

ti

Ca)

>-
CC
•Ct

39