PORT ROYAL — Ever wondered what 20,000 pairs of shoes look like, just ask Abby Yorks.

The Mifflintown native has been collecting footwear for Soles4Souls, or S4S, a non-profit organization based in Nashville, Tenn., which donates them to the needy.

Every time Yorks collects 20,000 pairs of shoes, S4S sends a tractor-trailer to her storage space in Lewisburg to pick them up.

“I wouldn’t call it charity work anymore, it’s my passion,” said Yorks, who volunteers as an ambassador for S4S. She also works full-time as an office manager in Union County.

“I never dreamed I would be that interested in shoes, but I am,” Yorks added.

Collecting footwear for 15 years has put her on the cusp of reaching the 100,000 mark for pairs of shoes.

“I have about 1,000 pair to go, which will happen in the next month easily,” Yorks said.

On May 23, Yorks and her family and friends loaded up a tractor trailer bound for a New Jersey processing center, with hundreds of bags of footwear to be donated to S4S.

If fact, just over a month after the last truck full of shoes left town, Yorks had already pulled in more than 1,600 pairs of shoes toward the next load.

Yorks first learned about S4S when a ladies group from her church, Pine Grove United Methodist in Mifflintown, was looking for charitable work. They collected more than 200 pairs of shoes for the non-profit. The church has continued to do so year after year.

“They have a box set up like a lot of other churches,” Yorks said. “Me or one my helpers go and pick it up.”

At first, Yorks recalled the shoe drives were meant to be simple. It grew very quickly. “Another church wanted to get involved year-round, and it kept getting bigger,” she explained.

S4S was founded by a group of executives from the shoe industry who donated shoes to survivors of a 2004 tsunami then to survivors of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

By 2011, the non-profit had distributed 19 million shoes and, one year later, had responded with crisis relief to more than 40 natural disasters worldwide.

An ambassador, Yorks enjoys spreading the word about their mission as much as she loves collecting and processing the shoes.

Any footwear can be donated, Yorks said, except for ice and roller skates. “We take any styles and sizes – men’s, women’s and kid’s – they just have to have some life left in them.”

Yorks stores the shoes in space given to her at a storage facility in the Lewisburg area and volunteers gather donations from the nearly 40 boxes she has set up in seven Pennsylvania counties.

Once the shoes are banded together, counted and bagged, S4S will send a tractor trailer to pick up donations of at least 20,000 shoes.

Yorks said there are 20 pairs of shoes per bag, which makes for quick a feat on truck day. There are 1,000 bags to be loaded into the trailer.

Yorks couldn’t be more excited to be approaching her six-figure milestone, a goal she set upon learning another woman had achieved. Yorks has averaged about 1,500 pairs of shoes per month in donations.

“I have always kept records,” Yorks said. “It helps them (S4S) know when to send the truck.

“When I was down in Nashville at (S4S) headquarters, there was a picture or plaque on the wall of the woman,” she added. She lives outside of Minneapolis. She may have been the first person to do that for them. She is working with a much larger area than I am. But a couple years and here I am, I’m getting very close.”

Yorks has also started her own charity initiative called Aunt Abby’s Shoe Mission in Port Royal. The shoe mission provides shoes to those in need, she said.

“When people donate new shoes, I’ve been trying to save them for a couple years to use locally,” Yorks said of starting her shoe mission. “Now, I’ve got a stockpile of new stuff for men, women and children in all sizes.”

She has been overwhelmed by the community’s generosity over the years. Thanks to the donations she has received, she has a stockpile of shoes for men, women and children that can be distributed if there is a need, due to a fire, financial trouble or other tragedy.

The goal is to get footwear to the families that need help.

Several area churches and businesses also have public collection boxes, including Epsco Electric in Mifflintown, Turbett Back 40 in Port Royal, Fayette Area Lions Den in McAlisterville, Mac’s Clothing in Mifflintown, 4-H office in the Courthouse Annex in Mifflintown and Guardian Angel Bookstore in Richfield.

Yorks also provided donated Crocs to patients of the Emergency Room at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital. “There were people who came in with an emergency and didn’t have footwear to wear when they left,” Yorks explained.

She also recognizes her team of volunteers that support her mission.

“Without the volunteers that help me, I would never be able to do this project,” Yorks said. “They are a vital part of this whole process.”

The project no longer just serves Juniata County. It’s even expanded outside the Juniata Valley, with collection boxes in Montour, Northumberland, Perry and Union counties.

“You don’t have to live in Juniata County to be helped,” Yorks said. “We have collection boxes in Mifflin County.” There are also boxes in Juniata and Snyder counties.

“If you need shoes, we have shoes and we’ll get you shoes,” she added. “That’s the bottom line. No town big or small is without needs.”

For more information, find the shoe mission on Facebook or call (570) 768-0310.