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BY SUE-ELLEN SANDERS
PHOTOS BY ROBERT P. DUDLEY
Before Molly and Tessa McKenna were medical
students, the sisters had been exposed to the
needs of Third World cultures, volunteering in
clinics in Haiti, Uganda and the Dominican
Republic, with their uncle, a physician.
“While we were there, we saw what a great need
there was for shoes and medical supplies and a few other
GOOD WORKS
items,” says Molly. “ We saw women who had HIV walking
miles and miles barefoot and carrying their babies on their
backs in order to get to the clinic. By the time they got
there, their feet were all cut up and they had parasites and
fungal infections from not wearing shoes. They didn’t own
even one pair of shoes.”
Together with her twin sister, Tessa, and their mother,
they started the nonprofit organization, Share One Pair.
“When we returned home, our mom suggested that
we start collecting shoes, medical supplies, and cloth diapers
for the poor,” says Tessa, age 27.
“A pair of shoes can help kids remain in
school, instead of being home sick and can keep
fathers and mothers at work, helping them to
feed their family,” adds Molly. “A pair of shoes
taken for granted in our closet can be a true
blessing to another family.”
The sisters began to collect the shoes while
attending school in Tallahassee and have already
shipped 4500 pairs of shoes to Haiti. They
moved to Port St. Lucie last summer to become
part of the first class of medical students at
Molly, left, and Tessa compare notes on their medical rotations before their Wednesday lecture at the FSU campus at IRCC.
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WANT TO HELP?
To donate shoes, medical supplies, cloth diapers, plastic
pants or diaper pins, call Tessa or Molly at (850)321-9486
or email: mcm05@med.fsu.edu. Share One Pair also
accepts monetary donations to pay for shipping and purchasing
needed supplies. Checks can be made out to Share
One Pair and sent to 2305 SE 13th Street Pompano Beach,
FL 33062.
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