I came across a story about a teenager in Hingham, Massachusetts named Maggie Driscoll. She’s running a shoe drive for Soles4Souls in tribute to her grandmother, a teacher who ran shoe drives regularly. Maggie’s goal is to donate 10,000 pairs of shoes in her grandmother’s honor.
And I had to stop.
I know what it means to love your grandparents the way Maggie clearly loved hers. I was the only one in my family who had that kind of relationship with mine — and I’ve always known how rare and precious that was.
I grew up in year-round school, which meant I had breaks throughout the year instead of one long summer. And I spent every single one of those breaks at my grandparents’ house, two hours from home. From the time I was five or six years old, my grandma was taking me to Chinatown — dim sum, grocery runs, little candies from the local shops that I still think about. When I was a teenager, there were regular family dinners at her house, and my grandfather used to pick up me and my friends from school and take us through the McDonald’s drive-thru just because.
After I turned 18, the roles started to shift a little. My grandfather had a stroke and couldn’t drive anymore, and my grandmother never drove. So I became the one who picked them up — took them to breakfast, ran errands, got them to appointments. And when I was about 21, I moved in with them to help take care of them.
I didn’t do it because I had to. I did it because I wanted to. Because they were worth it.
So when I read about Maggie, I recognized something in her. That particular kind of love that not everyone gets to experience. She’s honoring her grandmother in the most fitting way possible — by continuing her work. And I think that’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
As many of you know, we’re in the middle of relocating, which means we have shoes to spare — and they’re going straight to Maggie’s drive. If you’d like to contribute too, you can reach Maggie directly at soles4ma@gmail.com, or read her full story here: Hingham teen collects thousands of shoes for charity
Last I checked, she’s already at nearly 7,000 pairs and aiming for 10,000. Let’s help her get there. 💜
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