Sue Sitter/PCT Catholic Youth Organization officers pose at Rugby High School (left to right): Thatcher Volk, Kiara Larson, Allison Mundahl, Trenton Sanford, Brooke Blessum, Katelyn Duchscher and Amber Selensky. Not pictured: Kimberlee Leier and Tressa Arnston

If last week’s weather inspired area residents to reorganize their closets for winter, the Catholic Youth Organization at St. Therese Little Flower Parish in Rugby will gladly take any extra pairs of shoes.

The group will go door to door in Rugby next Saturday evening from 7:00-9:00 pm for their annual “Amazing Race,” a charity event that combines fun with collecting donations for a worthy cause.

Group member Kiara Larson told the Tribune, “Basically, we race around town to collect different items each year. This year, we’re collecting shoes for a charity called Soles 4 Souls.”

Larson and fellow CYO member Katelyn Duchscher said the charity collects new or gently used shoes and ships them to countries such as Haiti to help needy individuals and families.

Duchscher said the group will meet at 5:00 pm next Saturday at Little Flower Church before they begin their door-to-door collections.

“Before we go out, we go to a church service, we’ll have a supper and then we’ll get into teams,” Duchscher said. Each team will take a section of town and go to each house.

“After that, we get back to the church as a group and we sort through everything. We’re going to go through the shoes and sort them by size and things like that.” Duchscher said.

Since the race falls on the Saturday before Halloween, Duchscher said pumpkin carving or other holiday activities will follow at the church.

Both Larson and Duchscher said the group would collect pairs of shoes in all types and sizes, as long as the shoes are in good shape.

“The group that collects the most shoes is the winner,” Larson added.

Although participants will spend most of their time going door to door, there will be activities on their routes to help them collect even more shoes.

“Along the way, they have a scavenger hunt-type thing that leads you with clues along the way at different spots in town,” Duchscher said. “So we do a scavenger hunt along with the Amazing Race itself.”

Larson said there would be other detours as well, “like a maze you have to go through, and there’ll be someone dressed up in a costume (who) will ask you a question like about a saint.”

“One of the clues is an article about a saint, and you have to read about it and answer a question. If you get it right, they’ll usually lead you to a bigger bucket of shoes,” Larson explained. “It’s just a way to kind of make it more fun.”

Larson and Duchscher said they hoped for an enthusiastic response from the community.

“I feel like shoes are one of those things that people have a hard time getting rid of because they think, ‘I might wear them.’ This is a way they can say, ‘I can get rid of these, and at least it will help people,'” Duchscher noted.

Both said the CYO would accept donations at the church from residents who planned to be away from home next Saturday.

“If you want to drop them off, put them in a bag and label them ‘CYO Shoes,'” Duchscher suggested.

“People in the past who didn’t want us to knock on the door would just hang their donations on their door,” Larson added.

For more information on the race, contact the Little Flower Parish office at 776-5327 or Lisa Volk at 583-2338.