U-46 schools, churches, mosques collecting shoes for Syrian refugees

Imagine children having to navigate mountainous terrain in winter wearing sandals.

It's an image Lisa Haser says she will never forget after seeing firsthand the condition of Syrian refugees who fled their homeland engulfed in a civil war now in its fifth year.

"I had no idea what I was walking into," said Haser, an oncology registered nurse from Mokena who joined a group of doctors on a medical mission to Lebanon in February.

Haser visited three refugee camps along the snowy mountains of Lebanon's Beqaa Valley on that trip, sponsored by the Midwest chapter of the Syrian American Medical Society.

"What bothered me the most was that many children and adults did not have appropriate shoes on their feet," she said. "Some people only wore sandals, while many had nothing on their feet at all."

It spurred Haser to launch a campaign to collect shoes for Syrian children and families immediately upon her return.

Haser said she has received and boxed roughly 2,000 shoes, thanks to donations from some suburban mosques and Catholic schools. It's restored her faith in humanity, she said.

Now, some Elgin area schools and churches also are helping gather shoes for the cause.

"These kids have to walk up the mountain to get water and they have bare feet," said Phil Costello, a longtime friend of Haser and an Elgin Area School District U-46 school board member spearheading the effort locally.

Donations of new or gently used shoes of all kinds are being accepted at U-46 schools and the district's Educational Services Center, 355 E. Chicago St., Elgin, through May 13. Officials hope to deliver a truckload of shoes to Haser to be shipped by container to refugee camps in Lebanon later that month.

"A lot of schools are still collecting them," Costello said. "I'm getting some churches, as well. It's a good effort."

Lamplighter Church in Streamwood is partnering with U-46 to collect at least 100 pairs. Donations can be dropped off at 23 W. Streamwood Blvd., through May 6.

"We think that it's a very worthy endeavor to be collecting shoes for children and adults in these refugee camps in Lebanon," said Lil Hager, women's pastor. "We are expecting that our congregation responds generously as they always do when we present a need to them."

With many pledges yet to come in, Haser expects to collect nearly 4,000 shoes.

Haser's employer, Mufaddal Hamadeh, also the president of SAMS Midwest chapter, is coordinating with the nonprofit group, Rahma Relief Foundation, to ship the shoes.

Donors can sponsor containers of medicine, clothing, school supplies, and computers through the foundation to help refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon.

"We are hoping to get the first load shipped this Saturday," Hamadeh said.