BY MATT KAKLEY SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 2:41 AM EST
Pastor David Arruda of the Faith Fellowship United Methodist Church in Mansfield hung 150 shoes, each representing one million orphaned children, from the church's belfry to draw awareness to the problem. (Staff photo by Mike George)
MANSFIELD - Anyone walking past Faith Fellowship United Methodist Church on North Main Street may have noticed some peculiar decorations strung from the belfry.A rope adorned with 150 shoes has been hanging from the bell tower all month long, and no, the church's decorator hasn't lost his mind. Rather, each shoe represents one million orphan children."We're trying to bring attention to the plight of these children," said Pastor David Arruda, who hung the shoes. "It's a major, major problem."There are more than 150 million orphan children worldwide, Arruda said, with 120,000 children available for adoption in the United States, alone."A majority will never know the miracle of adoption, the love of a family," he said.
And the shoes are more than just decorations. The church is selling the shoes for $100 each, with the goal of donating $15,000 to help other ministries across New England establish orphan relief programs.The shoes will be displayed and for sale until Christmas, and Arruda said the church has sold 25 to 30 shoes already.According to Arruda, almost 70 percent of those in the prison system have been in the foster care system at some point in their lives. He said that if those children had been adopted earlier in life, they might not have had problems down the road."If we take a look at these kids and help them, we would affect a whole lot of other problems," he said.The decision to hang the shoes from the belfry came just weeks after Arruda spent several days on the church's lawn to show the struggles of the homeless. The pastor said he is trying to change the way people perceive these problems."I like to try and get people to look at things in a different way," he said.Even if the shoe sale doesn't raise the whole $15,000, Arruda said he will have accomplished his goal if awareness of the problem grows."If one more person, when going to bed, asks for a prayer for the orphans, then hanging the shoes has been well worth it," he said.MATT KAKLEY covers Mansfield for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0333 or at mkakley@thesunchronicle.com.
