Giving away clothes, shoes and eyewear is the reason for the journey
Kelly Sinoski
Sun
Realtor Eduardo Fritis prepares for his Shoes for the World voyage at his soon-to-be-listed home in Richmond. He is selling everything to make the two-year trip. Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
A photo of a grinning boy with his first pair of shoes was enough to convince Eduardo Fritis to give up nearly everything he owns to help others who need it.
The Richmond real estate agent is in the midst of selling his home and most of his belongings to sail around the world to hand out shoes, clothes and eyewear to people who would otherwise go without.
His wife and 19-year-old son will go with him on the journey, which he’s dubbed Shoes for the World, and will wind its way to Mexico, South America, French Polynesia and the South Pacific over the next two years.
“Here we have everything and we never seem to be happy,” Fritis said.
“Why don’t we take a little bit from here and with that little bit, we can make other people happy.”
Fritis, 54, said his journey was triggered after speaking to a couple who showed him a photo of a group of Third World children — with one boy smiling broadly as he showed off the first shoes he’d ever owned.
He decided to start the voyage now because the real estate market is slowing down so work isn’t as busy as it was a year ago.
He’s hoping to return to the Vancouver area– where he’s lived for the past 15 years — after about two years on the water.
“I’m just getting rid of everything I have here, jumping in the boat, going to see people and make a difference,” he said. “The sky’s the limit.”
He said a Vancouver shoe store chain has donated 500 pairs of shoes to the initiative and he’s hoping to set up teams of volunteers in Metro Vancouver to collect and ship food, clothes and shoes to the ports they plan to visit.
“I’m very excited, you can’t imagine,” Fritis said.
“This is something that is really meaningful; you can make a difference to people who have so little.”
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