HAMPDEN – The Hampden Senior Center is hosting a shoe drive fundraiser to raise funds for their building expansion from April 1 through May 31. Residents can help by donating gently worn, used and new shoes ranging from children to adult shoes of any size and style.

“The shoe drive fundraiser is something new that we just started,” said Activities Coordinator Nan Hurlburt.  “One of the reasons I thought that this would work in a pandemic year was because people are home, they’re cleaning closets and occupying themselves with getting into those spaces that they probably hadn’t looked at in a while.”

She continued, “I thought well, here’s an interesting opportunity to get people to help them clean out their closets and do something good for the Center and then ultimately something good for people around the world.”

Hurlburt told Reminder Publishing they pride themselves on their center being open to everyone and try to do a lot of functions that are inclusive of grandparents, grandchildren and parents. She explained that she thought this would be a great opportunity to get the whole family involved. Hurlburt said she hopes this first round of fundraising will net somewhere in the $3,000 range.

The center has collection boxes outside on their front porch at 104 Allen St. Even though the Center is technically closed, Hurlburt said they are there working from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. For anyone that wants to drive by and deposit their shoes in the collection boxes, Hurlbert fully encourages it. Senior Center employees then they take the shoes into the building and process them.

All donated shoes will then be redistributed throughout the Funds2Orgs network of micro-enterprise partners that provide vital services, create job opportunities and sustainability while protecting the environment. They work with micro-entrepreneurs in helping them create, maintain, and grow small businesses in developing countries where economic opportunity and jobs are limited. Proceeds from the sales of the shoes collected in shoe drive fundraisers are used to feed, clothe and house their families.

“It’s my job to find funds and do programming,” responded Hurlburt. “I did some research on a couple of different organizations and settled on the Funds2Org group because I thought they did the best with the shoes, how they distribute them and how they help people around the world.”

The town of Hampden formed the Council on Aging in 1977 in the basement of the Hampden Town House to help meet the needs of older adults in the community and built their Senior Center in 1999. Currently, Hurlburt said they have outgrown their space and are looking to expand. They are looking to add another community room which they will be able to host several different types of functions at once. Additionally, they’re looking to add a health room, a larger utility room for storage and an additional office.

"This fundraising shoe drive will bring us one step closer to our expansion plans,” voiced Hurlburt. “We don't have a dedicated room for health and exercise, so that’s in the process of this expansion. We’ll see how this goes and if it’s successful I think it’s definitely something we would consider doing annually.”

For more information, call the Hampden Senior Center at 566-5588.