Croc Kindness

My friend Jody heard about this project and introduced me to her sister Amy.  Amy is most definitely a KINDNESS ACTIVST, and I was thrilled to hear her story.

Amy and her husband have two adorable children, Lilia (age 11) and Kaiser (age 6).  Both were adopted – Lilia from Russia and Kaiser from Ethiopia.  So just that fact, that this family is open-hearted enough to adopt two children, makes me smile.

Beautiful family with huge hearts

But there is much more to the story…

When Amy and her husband went to Ethiopia the first time, they were struck by the kids’ SHOES.  Amy told me that the kids they saw were wearing shoes that were way too small, much too big, or had big holes in them.  Some of the children only had ONE SHOE.  Amy’s husband said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could collect a bunch of shoes to bring back to Ethiopia on our second trip?”.

You get where this is going…  And it is terrific!

Amy says, “We just had it in our heart that this is what we were supposed to do.”  So do it they did!  They set a goal of collecting 100 shoes to bring to Ethiopia (which Amy was secretly doubtful they could make).  They decided to collect CROCS, because most of the kids they saw did not have socks so Crocs would be a good shoe for them. 

They set their sights on 100 pairs of Crocs...

They made pleas to their families, their church members, and everyone they could contact via Facebook to donate shoes.  Their Croc collection for those little kids in Ethiopia was ON! 

And here is the amazing part:  they collected 377 pairs of Crocs!!!!!!!! Crocs of all colors!  Beautiful, sturdy, functional CROCS!!  Amy says, “God provides, and we felt awesome.  We felt like even through the little things, God shows that he does care.  He cares about people far away.  He cares enough to pull our hearts towards kindness and giving”.

Now THAT is a lot of CROCS!!

They brought so many shoes to Ethiopia with them that every single child in the orphanage where they were adopting their son Kaiser got a pair!  Not only that, they had even MORE shoes to give to several other orphanages in the area!!  “The kids were ecstatic!  When they came out with their shoes on, they were all smiles and so thankful,” Amy told me.

Little feet in little Crocs!
 (They could not take photos of children's faces other than their own son)

Isn’t that just great??  They gave one child a forever family – a brand new life.  And they gave all of the children at the orphanage a beautiful gift of sturdy shoes. 

How could you NOT fall in love with this cutie????  Here is Kaiser in a pile of Crocs!  :)

Like almost every Kindness Activist I have interviewed for this project, Amy downplayed her story.  She said that they were more blessed by the experience than the kids.  And she stressed how much need there is in the world, “Even if we worked every day for the rest of our lives, the need would still be great”.  This is, of course, very true.  But it is people like Amy and her family that help put a dent in that need and serve as shining examples to the rest of us. 

And, as icing on their kindness cake, they also brought 300 Matchbox cars to hand out in Ethiopia.  J 

Thank you for sharing your inspiring story, Amy.  If you know of a Kindness Activist, please tell me about them!  Email me at kindnessactivist@gmail.com.  And be sure to “like” us on Facebook (Kindness Activist).