BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A local shoe drive helps children locally and around the world.
Inside Melissa Fillman’s garage are bags and bags of shoes.
Last year, her nonprofit Kindness is Magic collected more than 8,000 pounds. Fillman partnered with another group to turn each pound into 40 cents.
The shoes go to kids in developing countries, and the money goes straight to paying off student lunch debt.
"There's children in our district that are coming to school that didn't necessarily have breakfast, aren't necessarily going to have dinner, and they really need their lunch," says Fillman
Liberty High School’s choir wrote a jingle for the shoe drive.
Choir president Jill Rudolph says she’s had to put her lunch tray back before, because she didn’t have money for a meal. She says supporting the shoe drive is personal.
"I think it's good, because then, kids don't have to go through what I went through and not understand why they can't eat," says Rudolph.
The shoe drive runs through March 28.