Rather than giving a helping hand, the men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated are giving a pair of shoes – many pairs, actually.
Shoes for Zulu is a tennis shoe drive for South African people, the people of Zulu and other areas.
“We chose the South African population because there’s actually a large population of needy people in South Africa,” said Videl Smith, a senior in electrical engineering and member of the fraternity.
Another member of the organization, Terion Cranfield, created the idea behind the Shoes For Zulu drive.
Upon talking to his boss, Ron Parker, a coordinator at the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center, Cranfield realized that there was a definite need for better conditions in different areas of Africa, leading him to develop the idea and organize this drive.
“He (Parker) was talking about how he just came back from the Zulu nation and said there was a need,” said Cranfield, a junior in strategic communication. “I decided to put on a program just because it fit – not just for people in the Zulu nation, it’s for South African people.”
Historically this chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated (the Zeta chapter) has been referred to as the Zeta Zulu’s. The significance behind this nickname was also inspiration for this drive.
With the help of Soles4Souls, an organization that accepts shoe donations and sends them to families in need, the fraternity can specify where the shoes will be sent. After the Kappas pay the cost of shipping, the company will send the donated shoes to families in Zulu.
This Greek organization marketed this shoe drive to students first by advertising incentives – whoever donated the most shoes on the first day received a prize. They also passed out pamphlets and fliers about the event.
The drive has been going on for almost two months inside the Hale Center. As it comes to an end, the Kappas have collected six or seven huge boxes full of more than one hundred pairs of shoes.
Smith said the drive is an initial run. The success of the program will determine when and how they will execute this program in the future.
“This is just one aspect that we’re aiming at – they have a lot of problems a lot of other nations have – hunger and poverty,” Smith said.
Smith said another reason this black fraternity chose to help an African nation was because it connects the historically black fraternity to their native land.
“I think immigrant African Americans really like to hold onto their heritage,” Smith said.
D’Andrea Kinley can be reached at [email protected].
