Soles4Souls Shoe Distribution: Haiti

Haiti Trip Soles4Souls::|::

I am not sure I can fully put in to words what the Soles4Souls Haiti 

shoes distribution trip was like, but I will give it my best effort:)

This may be my longest blog, but I want you to feel like you were

there with us...along for the ride with Team Soles4Souls. 

The Travel:

   Our team consisted of 16 members from all over the country and even included Soles4Souls CEO Buddy Teaster with family in alongside him. Kelly Hoskins (who is truly amazing) led the charge as the travel coordinator from Soles4Souls. We arrived on January 2nd, 2014 at the Miami airport sporting our Soles4Souls travel t-shirts so we could recognize each other. Through cancelled flights and missed connections because of weather, we all mustered through it to arrive on time and head out to Haiti as a group. I had been traveling since January 1st and due to snow storms/delayed flights, missed 3 connections and found myself huddled in my travel blanket on a seat at the Chicago airport awaiting the next available flight which was now the morning of January 2nd. At one point I began to look up how far it was to drive to Miami because I did not want to miss out on traveling to Haiti!

The view of the snowy Chicago airport around midnight

  After greeting everyone with small talk at the Miami airport, we gathered up and headed out for Port au Prince. Our guides Paul and Sam greeted us at the airport and upon arrival we all gathered our bags...except me. Yes, my luggage had been lost and for some unknown reason never made it out of Miami. Travel abnormalities honestly make me chuckle because they truly happen to me often. There is nothing I can do about it but smile because in the end, life works out and eventually everything will be fine:) This was my second trip to Haiti, so I was very anxious to be back. I had missed the people, the culture and bringing hope to the children of Haiti.

 Since our flight to Haiti had been delayed, we arrived when it was dark and headed straight to the hotel. The first night was full of extended greetings, Haitian cuisine and our first team picture.

 We listened to some wonderful stories of people who had previously been on Soles4Souls trips and how their lives had been impacted after the experience. After reviewing our schedule, it was time to call it a night.

Day One:

  We prepped for the official "Day One" of shoe distributions with a 7am start. The team sorted shoes by size in the lobby of the hotel along with some toys we had to hand out. 

The team sorting shoes for the distributions in the hotel lobby

  Two vans pulled up to the hotel for the teams and a bus for the supplies...off we went! 

My roommate Annie from Texas

  Children were lining the streets of our first stop and one car load with at least 30 children inside pulled up to the site. 

    The basics of a Soles4Souls shoe distribution are three steps: 

1.Size, 2.Wash, 3.Fit (dishing out hugs  to the children could technically be step 4!)

1.   Sizing

One of the team members checks the child's shoe size with a chart

2. Washing 

Each child gets their feet washed and dried before the fitting

3. Fitting

Soles4Souls Travel Coordinator Kelly Hoskins doing the fitting

Soles4Souls CEO Buddy Teaster holds a little girl who just received her new shoes

The unofficial #4. Hugs and High Fives!

 The team did an amazing job pulling together to distribute shoes by communicating well, being willing to trade job roles to give others breaks and sharing words of encouragement. Everyone's energy with the intense heat and fast paced activity in a small space was astounding. It takes a few hours per distribution and it is non-stop, but when you finally take a breath and look around to see all of the smiling adoring children...any tiredness evaporates and is refilled with joy.

The Soles4Souls travel team sitting for lunch in between distributions

  After packing up we grabbed lunch, then headed out for distribution two. Same process and more adorable children to serve.

Distribution Number Two with Musician SaraLou Richards Singing (http://sarahlourichards.com/)

 

 

 

Our day ended up by distributing about 470 shoes!

We returned to the hotel around 5pm with some free time before our 6:30 team meeting. Someone shared with me about a soccer field close by that could be used for running and I grabbed my sneakers to head out the door as soon as possible. To be able to distribute shoes alone is amazing, but to get to run in another country for those that I race for...I was excstatic! After about 40 minutes, a group of girls showed up on the field and started to run with me. My last mile was spent holding the hands of two of the girls, we giggled the whole way and even though I can only say a few choice words in french, sports is an international language that crossed all barriers and we connected through our steps. After we ran, I decided to show the girls some other things they can do to workout. We did push-ups, stretched and some jumping jacks. One of the children that joined us took a quick video of the girls and I doing our jumping jacks :) 

I had made my way back to the hotel and was able to go out in to the ocean and catch sundown standing in the warm water of Haiti. 

Standing in the ocean watching the sundown, reflecting on the day

Day Two:

  We started our day with additional shoe sorting and headed out bright and early once again. Our first distribution had children lining up waiting and we each jumped in to job roles. I enjoyed washing the feet during the distributions because as I looked at the children's feet and held them in my hands, I imagined what story they told or wondered if anyone had ever held there feet and washed them with a smile from across a chair. With the help of others my French vocab expanded a little bit, but a smile alone is worth a thousand words. It was also fun to fit them because we were able to pick them up and hug them for a while.

 What a neat opportunity to hold them in your arms for a moment, my smile just writing about it right now is from ear to ear. By our day two distribution our Soles4Souls team had become a small family. We celebrated two ladies on the trip birthdays' and a young man's acceptance into college. 

Our first distribution crowd waiting for shoes while we prep inside

Our second distribution group on Day Two

 We ended up distributing over 600 shoes for day two! 

  After we returned to the hotel I was able to get in one more run, but this time there was a soccer game going on. It would have been a dream to jump in and play with them, but being able to watch peaking out of the corner of my eye as I circled the field was exciting :)

Day Three:

  Our trip wrapped up by attending a Haitian church service. 

The S4S Team outside the church we attended

Our last shoe distribution, the children lined up and waiting :)

After the service, we toured a orphanage called Rivers of Hope and then distributed shoes at the church we attended. 

At our last distribution letting some of the little girls try on my crown :)

After the church our team had our last lunch together seaside. Haiti's waters are so beautiful! 

 

This picture is not edited showing the stunning beauty of Haiti!

After lunch we had a chance to visit a school where I was able to play soccer with some of the kids there...they are SO good!

 

Some of the girls from the school

Our trip rounded out by taking a short hike up a mountain near by where we got to play with some of the children from nearby homes and see an amazing overlook!

Standing atop the mountain overlook (with a random goat joining me ;p )

 If you are interested in traveling with Soles4Souls, you can find out more information at this link http://soles4souls.org/travel4souls 

I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to go on at least one trip, not only will it change your life, but the lives of many others for years to come. 

 If you are not a traveling type, you still have the ability to help others all over the world with as little as $1! $1 = 1 pair of shoes for a child in need. You can give at the link below and 100% of your donation goes to Soles4Souls. 

https://secure.soles4souls.org/page/contribute/maggi-thorne 

Thank you for reading this blog and taking the journey with me as you read about Soles4Souls Haiti. More trips are to come this year and I can't wait to get out on the road to do more for Soles4Souls. Happy New Year again.

Helping to change the world one pair at a time,

 Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Maggi Thorne

The International Pageant 2013 Journey

My International Pageant journey...the 2013 rewind

It is hard to believe we are mere minutes away from 2014. This last year has flown by and in the most exciting way possible...joining the International Pageant Family. I will be posting a video of the "rewind" and below is the year in review graphic. Happy New Year to you and your family! I am grateful to God for every opportunity to serve others and to have all of you continue to join me on this journey with Soles4Souls. To 2014, Dream Big!

Warm Regards,
Maggi
 Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Motivational Video - Sacrifice

As 2013 comes to a close and 2014 approaches, this is a time to not only reflect, but project. What is next? What are the 2014 dreams and what sacrifices am I willing to make....is our family willing to make? Do I want to change the world? Yes. You can too. YOU can do ANYTHING....it may take some sacrifice, but all you have to do is take a chance.
Dream Big, give it your all.
Warm Regards,
Maggi Thorne
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

Growing up in San Diego, despite the lack of snow and cold weather, Christmas was huge in our home. My mother had boxes and boxes...and boxes of Christmas decorations where it became a week long process to get everything out. The tree always real and a noble fir. The presents spilled out from under the tree and stocking about to bust at the seams. We never went to church, so as a kid, I loved being showered in gifts and put my wishes and hope in a jolly man named Santa, but it always distracted from the real gift.

  As fun as these traditions were as a child, our own family is much different. We are simple with the decorations (this year we removed all of the animated singing plush toys for sake of keeping our sanity with puppies barking Merry Christmas and Elf's dancing;p)
  We want it to feel like a celebration for our kids, and we have a blast decorating a few areas of the house. We bake cookies for our friends/family and the kids get very hands on with the sprinkles and icing. Our cookies may be messy, but the kids love to contribute.

  How about presents? The first few years we did what I knew as a kid...swamped them with gifts. As the years passed, we realized we were taking away from the real celebration and what our kids need more than anything in this world is our love and grace. After traveling to Haiti in 2010 and experiencing one of the poorest cultures in the world, our yearly tradition for the past 3 years is now this: One Want, One Need, One Wear and One Read. This applies for each of our children and works really well. There is a lot more breathing room in the time leading up to it, during and after. We focus on our pajama cuddling, getting out our nativity scene on Christmas night and talking about it and how we can serve others.  Since Fred and I have been married, Christmas night we drive around and find a family eating out somewhere and anonymously purchase their meal. Now our kids are old enough, they help us choose the family.

  The last tradition in our home is our ornaments. Each of our children has their own mini tree and they get to choose and ornament each year to add to it. We date the ornament and make a special moment of it being added to the tree. My mom also sends one ornament for them each year to celebrate a milestone they had during the year. Fred and I have our own tree that has special ornaments from moments in our lives together, first home, first Christmas together, etc. We have a family picture ornament we add each year as well.

   What do I want for Christmas this year? I get it in 9 days! I will be traveling to Haiti to deliver shoes to orphans all over with Soles4Souls.

  Blessings to you and your family for a Merry Christmas, I hope your time together is the best gift you get.

Warm Regards,
  Maggi Thorne
Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

The Worlds Toughest Mudder Experience

Greetings!
   These last couple weeks have certainly been filled with a lot of rest and recovery. I will get it out there and say the number one thing I was not prepared for was post race recovery, it has been a bear!

   Before getting in to the experience more, I would like to thank my husband for his tremendous support. He hauled hundreds of pounds of gear all over and stayed up through the night as a spectator to cheer me on for the 25 hours of competition and then carried me by his side as I gimped around post race. He is now my re-hab trainer!

Many of you have seen the results of second place, but the real win is for Soles4Souls. As a result of this race, I will be donating $1,000 to them. That is 1,000 pairs of shoes! 

While I was traveling to New Jersey a day ahead of my husband to get acclimated, he sent me this sweet picture of our little ones :) 

Below are the maps of the race and the schedule info 

There were 22 obstacles per lap and each lap was 5 miles. Of those obstacles, my least favorite was the electrical shock and my second least favorite was Devil's beard. My favorite obstacle's were mud mile, leap of faith and Everest.

The mud mile warmed me up and early in the race took a great amount of teamwork to get over the large hedges of mud walls and through the pools of muddy water.  Leap of Faith reminded me of one of my first track and field activities I ever did as a child, broad jump. This brought me comfort and I looked forward to this one each lap. It was a 12' leap from a 15' high ledge to land on to a cargo net and then climb the cargo net down another wall. Yes, that was comforting to me :)
 Everest is probably not usually anyone's favorite due to the fact of it's difficulty, but it again required great teamwork and when you are trying to sprint up a 20' steep slippery slope at 3am, you need others and they need you.

The beginning of the race was packed at many of the obstacles, but through the night, you were typically a lone runner. Every now and then you would run across another person at the same point in time and have a few minutes of conversation, but the race really requires the ability to overcome extremely adverse conditions solo. This is a specialty for me! Although I was never truly alone during the race, I prayed at nearly every obstacle for strength and the will to carry on, much of my time was singing song's that reminded me of our children, reciting my favorite scripture or thinking about favorite movies in my head that were fun. I was really anticipating I might pull from the movie Rambo, but ended up thinking about movies like Despicable Me, Monsters Inc, Shrek...etc

Here is the video compilation of the obstacles:

The Strategy:
  The question of "What is your strategy" was thrown at me numerous times pre-race from friends, family, media, during interviews, but overall strategy was simple....Never Give Up.

  I had a few simple mind sets to keep me going and get through the obstacles. Pray. Think about who I was running for, Soles4Souls. Stay fueled and hydrated, even if I didn't feel like eating or drinking and stay out of open water that is nature made. Being in man made water pits/pools is not a big deal and it actually stays pretty warm.Open water was freezing. I fell on one lap in to water on the island hopping and started to get hypothermic, but recognized what was coming and was able to battle through it. It made me realize how important it was to stay out of the lakes..

Strengths:
  The strategy played a big part, but with over 20 years as a highly competitive athlete, I know my body's strength's and weakness's pretty well. My lower body has about triple the strength of my upper body and I counted on it alot to get me through. Since I was a little girl flexibility has been key in excelling in sports and I relied alot on that to get me through and over obstacles.

Nutrition:
  One of my obstacle racing friends helped me a lot with prep before heading to WTM2013, Lindsey Remmers MS, RD, CSSD, LMNT, CLT showed me how to re-fuel properly before and after workouts while training for the race and then her best piece of advice for during the race: EAT!  She noted at that point, your body is just burning calories and will start feeding off of your muscles unless you stay fueled, so eating between every lap was important to me. I drank lots of water, Gatorade recovery mix, chocolate milk (although I would not recommend chocolate milk, put my stomach in knots) and ate primarily peanut butter and jelly sandwich's. I used some artificial energy fueling, but my body started to reject it and I had to go back to regular food's of substance.

 Injury List:
   As you can imagine, 76 miles and 330 obstacles will take it out of you, so how did my body fare?
-Lost left pinky toenail
-Strained left achilles
-Sprained right ankle
-Strained IT bands in both legs
-Right toe still numb from constantly rubbing on my big toe and it deadened the tissue
-Right calf strain
-Right hip flexor strain
-Bruised legs, back and arms


One week post race, a bursa sack in my knee burst and has set me back a bit more, but my training regardless is picking up again.

Gear/Training:
  So how did I train to get ready for the WTM2013? I ran whenever I could, wherever I could, for as long as possible. I tried out 6 different wet suits before finding the one that was right for me and spent over 100 hours researching and purchasing the right gear. my shoes were the very last purchase and I ended up running in Salomon speed cross 3 and that was the absolute best purchase next to my 3m dawn patrol wetsuit by RipCurl . I ended up with 5m gloves after realizing the 3M were not warm enough and a wind/rain coat. The race marked the first time in my life I wore a swim cap and I am extremely happy I did, it kept my head warm and dirt, etc out of my ears.

Thanks for reading about the WTM 2013 Journey and for all of the support and well wishes. On to 2014, my race schedule will be released soon!!

Remember, take a chance, dream a dream and go for it!

Warm Regards,
  Maggi Thorne
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014