EMU class project unveiled: shoes to benefit Kenyan widows

By Jeremy Hunt, Daily News-Record

Don’t let the footwear on display in the storefront fool you – Jack Collins shoe store is not reopening.

The display is actually an art project put together by an Eastern Mennonite University class. But it’s an art project with a good cause behind it.

Cyndi Gusler, EMU professor
Cyndi Gusler, EMU professor and chairwoman of the university’s Visual and Communication Arts Department

The project will be unveiled today as part of Harrisonburg’s Museum and Gallery Walk from 5 to 7 p.m., says Cyndi Gusler, EMU professor and chairwoman of the university’s Visual and Communication Arts Department.

The display also is part of a fundraiser for widows in Kenya, Gusler said.

Shoes are being collected at EMU, area churches and 10,000 Villages in Dayton for Well of Hope, a nongovernmental agency based in Kenya that aims to help widows and orphans.

The shoes will be sold in Kenya, and proceeds will then be used to buy land for widows, according to Well of Hope.