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How To Donate Shoes for the ME Action #Millions Missing Protest in DC

aaron_c

Senior Member
Messages
691
ME Action is coordinating protests in Washington DC and other satellite locations on May 25. Many of us are not well enough and/or don't have enough money to come in person, but we are invited to send shoes as a way of symbolically joining the protest. (We are also invited to photograph our shoes--even if we cannot send them.)

shoes.jpg

We are now accepting shoe donations!

To participate in the #MillionsMissing campaign, please send your shoes to:

Paige Maxon
P.O. Box 26051
Winston Salem, NC 27114

(The shoes will be transported to the DC demonstration from NC)​

AND Fill Out this Form, if you have not already.

**Include your name on the return address of your shipment to match your name on the form.**

Please have your shoes mailed by Tuesday, May 10th

You can send a pair of old shoes or if it’s difficult to get to the post office, order shoes on Amazon or Ebay and have them shipped directly to us. Try to send a pair of shoes that represents you – perhaps your personality, fashion style, age, gender, or careers and hobbies that you may not be able to participate in any longer.

During the protest, we will post images of these shoes to #MEAction’s social media account using the #MillionsMissing hashtag, so patients can see that they are being represented during the demonstration. The shoes will also be tagged with your information from the form.

If you have any questions, please email millionsmissing@meaction.net

Paige
 

Richard7

Senior Member
Messages
772
Location
Australia
It just occurred to me that I have not participated in a public protest since early 2003, and not because the world got better.

Boy have I been ill for a long time.

Anyway I did the same @Old Bones , well brown hiking shoes with laces and not purple slip-ons, but it is the me who is missing that I am trying to represent.

And it was fun to buy shoes based only on appearance and price. My feet are kind of huge and the shoes that fit them never seem to be the ones on sale. So I spent about just over $20 on a scale model of the kind of shoes I might be wearing in a world without ME/CFS.
 

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
Anyway I did the same @Old Bones , well brown hiking shoes with laces and not purple slip-ons, but it is the me who is missing that I am trying to represent.

@Richard7 Your brown hiking shoes would better represent the "me that is missing". But, I'm definitely not a woman who says "I wish I'd worn more purple"! And, I'm hoping this initiative gets so much attention, there's a chance I'll be able to pick out my colourful shoes in the press photographs.

It was a cheap and fun thing to do -- in my case $10 Canadian, leaving funds in my budget to send to the Open Medicine Foundation to thank Ron Davis for his work on our behalf, and to pay for the entertainment value of his excellent "underwear on the outside" photo.
 

Richard7

Senior Member
Messages
772
Location
Australia
Shoes you can see from a distance, I did not think of that.

But I did want to emphasise that fact that it is affordable. $20 is perhaps a bit much, maybe I could have sent my old hiking shoes to the states for less, but I cannot really walk down to the post office at the moment.

So I've held onto my shoes and some hope that I might get to use them again one day.

But $10 is better than $20.

Twice as good
 

ahimsa

ahimsa_pdx on twitter
Messages
1,921
I sent an old pair of Nike sneakers for the Wash, DC protest. (No pics - I forgot!)

On Monday I'm going to send a box for the Seattle protest. The box will have two pair of my own shoes, flip flops and a pair of lace-up shoes (don't know what to call them), one pair from another Portlander with ME/CFS, and three pair from Goodwill ($5 each).

Here's a preview photo of my old flip flops, tagged and ready to go:

Flip Flops - small.jpg
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Im wondering if those doing this protest have considered selling all the shoes after the protest for a ME/CFS fundraiser esp since some of these will be new shoes.

I heard noises about maybe using them for a future protest, but I think we may not be picturing the magnitude. We might end up having to pay quite a bit for storage to do that...

-J
 

Denise

Senior Member
Messages
1,095
I heard noises about maybe using them for a future protest, but I think we may not be picturing the magnitude. We might end up having to pay quite a bit for storage to do that...

-J

I too have heard that they might be used in the future. (I had asked if the shoes would be donated to a shelter or a non-profit that distributes clothing.)
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
I too have heard that they might be used in the future. (I had asked if the shoes would be donated to a shelter or a non-profit that distributes clothing.)

I think we do have to see what we end up with in terms of numbers. If it's an enormous amount of shoes, I think donating them might be a good idea; however, the people who want to use them for a future protest may have something very specific in mind. Let's see what the final count is. :)

-J
 
Messages
2,087
@JaimeS Amazon is asking me for a phone no. to deliver to the Address provided.

ETA - Ignore, i just put in 123123123 and it worked !
 

Rooney

Senior Member
Messages
185
Location
SE USA
I can't access the google form on my computer. Rather not set up a google account. Ideas?
Can I hand write my info enclosed with my shoes?
(Never mind - went ahead and mailed them)
 
Last edited:

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
I can't access the google form on my computer. Rather not set up a google account. Ideas?
Can I hand write my info enclosed with my shoes?
(Never mind - went ahead and mailed them)

I'd hand-write something and enclose it, if others have the same idea... I think the form is really so we get a vague idea of how many are coming. ;)

-J