Grant Hayes found a way to help the people of Haiti following the devastation from a massive earthquake Jan. 12 despite a number of roadblocks he encountered along the way.

Hayes and a group of fathers he organized, Dads of Maple Valley, set up a shoe drive at a Maple Woods neighborhood park Feb. 20-21 and collected more than 2,000 pairs of shoes donated from residents.

Hayes has been facing some problems of his own due to the current economy. He has been unemployed for the past six months, but, following the earthquake in Haiti he said he knew the people of that country would need shoes as part of the recovery, and he thought a shoe drive was a way for him to help.

Hayes said the idea came from his experiences in 2001 when he went on a mission to the Dominican Republic.

“I saw kids playing in fields with broken beer bottles, “ Hayes said.

Hayes brought the idea of a shoe drive for the Haitians to numerous companies around the country and they all told him it was good idea, but send money.

“I e-mailed them and told them I am unemployed,” Hayes said. “I can’t do as much as I would like, but I can do this (send shoes).”

He finally came upon Soles4Souls, a Nashville, Tenn. shoe charity, and the foundation was the path for Hayes to help.

Hayes and the other dads set up a donation station at the park over the weekend.

“It was awesome,” Hayes said. “We had a big blessing with the weather.”

Sunny skies and warm temperatures brought families to the park and Hayes said more than one-third of the people who donated shoes were out walking or playing with their children. He said when people saw what the volunteers were doing, they “went home and brought back shoes.”

The Oak Harbor Freight Lines Auburn office offered to ship the shoes for free to Las Vegas, and from there Soles4Souls will send the shoes to Haiti.

Hayes and the Dads of Maple Valley will be collecting shoes through the week. As of Monday Hayes had 85 boxes of shoes in his garage.

Along with the dads, Hayes said Lisa Fickle, a kindergarten teacher at Lake Wilderness Elementary, collected shoes with her class, and Jacob Moyer collected 500 pairs of shoes for the drive.