One Thousand Soles is a teen-championed community shoe drive for children and teens in-need. Coordinated by the City of Salem's Youth Development Services, collections and awareness campaigns occur year-round.

Year-round Collection Site

You can donate new or gently used shoes year-round at the IKE Box and the Salem Customer Service Center.

2023 Shoe Battle of the Schools

This Spring's Shoe Battle collected 1,704 pairs of shoes thanks to our generous community.

Every March Before Spring Break.

Special Note: 2023-24 We will not hold a Shoe Battle of the Schools.

Each year Salem-Keizer high schools and feeder schools compete to see who can collect the most shoes for the shoe cause. In just two weeks time, youth bring in 1,000 pairs of shoes from this drive alone. In past years, we've even seen the shoe count reach over 4,000 pairs of shoes.  

1. Every school year, the City of Salem's Youth Development Services invites local public and private high schools to join the friendly-competition.
2. Student representatives attend a Shoe Battle Orientation to learn the battle rules and the latest information on local youth homelessness issues.
3. Students return to their schools to strategize their plan of attack.
4. The Shoe Battle runs for two weeks on campuses and in the community.
5. After shoes are collected and counted, the top high school and middle school are presented trophies.  Each school's class or club that championed the collection celebrate the effort with a donut party.

2023 Participating Schools

For additional Shoe Battle community drop off locations, check out our Facebook and Instagram pages.

2018 CCTV Interview

Ten-minute CCTV Insight interview with students.

2017 Shoe Cleaning Session

One-minute CCTV video showing students cleaning donated shoes.

How it Started

The shoe program began in 2012 as a partnership between the City of Salem’s Youth Development Section and a South Salem High School Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) class. Students invited several businesses and schools to host shoe collection bins benefiting their peers experiencing homelessness.

The project now engages and supports schools, places of worship, businesses, nonprofits, local government and the general public year-round, especially during the annual Shoe Battle of the Schools.

875 pairs of shoes were selected by local community partners for local youth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Originally named “The One Hundred Soles Project,” the shoe drive has far exceeded its early goals:

• collecting over 19,700 pairs of new and gently-used shoes,
• receiving 100's of pairs of new socks and new laces,
• garnering nearly $18,000 in cash donations, 
• partnering with the Salem Keizer School District, local youth shelters, and youth-serving organizations for shoe distribution,
• securing free storage space thanks to United Way's Good 360 Warehouse, and
• celebrating a 10 year partnership with Isaac's Room's IKE Box Cafe for year-round shoe collection for the general public and leased shoe room space for partners to access.

Thanks to local students' hard work and our community partnerships, the shoe drive has become a youth-driven, City-sponsored community tradition.