Donations sought for FLDS children in need of shoes
Posted:
Updated:
HILDALE (ABC4 Utah) – Those in Hildale and its neighboring town of Colorado City say the children from FLDS families are in need.
“Feed the chickens and play with horses and cats and ride bikes and do anything with them that you want.”
Eight-year-old Lydia received her new boots from Voices for Dignity in Hildale, a non profit that helps those from the FLDS faith, and place those of the faith feel safe going for help. Lydia picked the brown color out herself for a reason.
“I thought most girls got pink, so I’d get something else more than most girls didn’t get,” said Lydia.
With Winter approaching, another non-profit —Short Creek family services— is holding a shoe drive for children in the community. Sherrie Mackert who heads the non-profit explains that the entire town – those in the faith and out -are in need.
“I had a mother that had come out of the culture, and she had her eight children with her and needed shoes desperately for them and my heart was just broken because I didn’t have the size 2 that she needed for her daughter, and she had taken one of her boys shoes and cut the toes out of them so her daughter could have shoes that would fit her so she didn’t have to walk around in the cold dirt up here,” said Mackert.
Lydia’s mother, Norma, who has 13 children and helps to cloth them by working part time, explains that there are now many single mothers in the area
“Either the man has been removed from the home because of abuse or whatever it was and or they’ve died or left, and we have several mothers, a lot of mothers, that are in need,” said Norma.
“You can just drop off shoes any size from toddler all the way up to teenager, and drop those off. We’ll be giving the shoes out on December 12th and December 27th, here in Colorado City at Short Creek family services,” said Mackert.
For donation information for the holiday shoe drive, you can visit: https://www.shortcreekfamilyservices.org/christmas-shoes-project or to learn more about Voices For Dignity: http://voicesfordignity.com/
Leave a Reply