Massive congratulations to local resident Camilla Jane Bowry, who has made the New Year’s Honours List and will receive an OBE for services to young people, education and the environment for her incredible work with her charity, Sal’s Shoe’s.

Camilla, who lives in Titsey, founded her charity in 2013 after difficulty finding a charity that could tell her exactly where her son Sal’s outgrown shoes would end up if she donated them…

Children tend to outgrow their shoes before they outwear them and feet in shoes are protected feet. Feet protected from injury and infection; and in areas of low sanitation the spread of infection.

Shoes are relatively difficult to recycle because of all the different components they are made up of. So we find your preloved children’s shoes new feet.

In their first year Sal’s Shoes collected just under 5,000 pairs of shoes. 10 years on, they have now found new feet for over 5,000,000 pairs of Sal’s Shoes in 61 countries around the world, including increasingly here in the UK.

“Anything I’ve ever been able to achieve has been because of the all encompassing support from everyone around me,” said Camilla. “Sal’s Shoes simply cannot do what it does without the generosity and efforts of its volunteers and donors, and it’s never been something I take for granted.”

In accepting her honour, Camilla is conscious of the fact that her achievements come on the back of the misfortune of others, which makes her somewhat uncomfortable: “I have always thought that acknowledgement of this sort of work in the charity sector feels slightly awkward, because we’re only able to achieve something, because of the less fortunate position of others, and in our case in particular, that means children.” she said.

“However, this honour is recognition of all the hard work behind the scenes, by so many dedicated people and a testament to what our team has achieved over the last 10 years.”

You can find out more about Sal’s Shoes and how you can donate, here: https://www.salsshoes.com/

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