By Bethany Bray
Staff Writer
November 20, 2008 03:50 am One thousand shoes — sounds like every woman's dream. But for two Andover High School sophomores, it's a challenge. John Barbaro and Drew Gath, members of the AHS junior varsity soccer team, hope to collect 1,000 shoes by Nov. 29 for the U.S. Soccer Federation's Passback Program, which distributes donated soccer and sports equipment to underprivileged children domestically and overseas. Gath and Barbaro have placed several collection bins around town, looking for donations of used soccer cleats and sports shoes that tie. The shoes they collect in Andover could help the program break the standing world record for "longest chain of shoes," which stands at 10,500 pieces of footwear tied together. The program will tie donated shoes together at the 2009 National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention, in St. Louis, Mo. in mid-January. After the world-record attempt, the donated shoes will be given to athletes in need. To help kick off the effort in Andover, the AHS soccer team will donate used cleats and running shoes at its team banquet on Nov. 23. Barbaro, a Passback Program "ambassador," collected more than 400 pieces of soccer shoes, clothes and balls for children in Zimbabwe last year. The program distributes donated equipment to children in Haiti, Iran, Iraq and Africa, as well as within the U.S., such as the equipment sent to Hurricane Katrina victims. For more information, visit www.passback.org. DONATION LOCATIONS: Andover High School sophomores John Barbaro and Drew Gath are looking to collect "gently used" soccer cleats and other sports shoes that tie, both children's and adult sizes. The collection ends Saturday, Nov. 29. Collection boxes are in three locations: St. Augustine's Church, 43 Essex St. Andover Town Offices, 36 Bartlet St., second-floor, outside the Department of Community Services office Andover High School
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