Joshua Harrison pounds the pavement to provide shoes for Dougherty County children

ALBANY – If anyone has seen a young man picking up bags and bags of cans around Albany, it’s a good chance the can collector is Joshua Harrison.

The 22-year-old has been grabbing cans from streets, alleys and lots of other places for several months, amassing a collection that now is piled high in a pickup truck. 

The idea is to turn what other people toss out of their car windows into cash and to raise awareness for an annual program that provides shoes to needy children.

Hands Extended Across Reaching Together (H.E.A.R.T.), an organization formed by Procter & Gamble retirees, is having the toughest year funding its annual shoe giveaway to elementary school students. H.E.A.R.T. faces an Oct. 15 deadline to order shoes to distribute in December.

In addition to the shoe giveaway, the organization also offers the G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Others Wisely) program in Dougherty County schools.

“It’s not easy to get all this,” said Harrison, who has been involved with H.E.A.R.T. for several years. “You go in the heat. You go in the rain. I went in the woods. … I went down Slappey (Boulevard) to raise money for the children to put their best foot forward.”

From his past school experience, Harrison said he knows that children in school can be bullied, and clothing and shoes are items of appearance that bullies often focus on. 

“Being able to work with the H.E.A.R.T. organization — and they work with me as one of their protege sons — it really made my life different,” Harrison said. “I want to let children feel better about themselves. With all these cans, I want to reach my goal to help buy every child a pair of shoes so they can feel good and they can say ‘I got a brand new pair of shoes.’”

On Wednesday, the can collector was still at it, having collected a load of soft drink and beer cans along West Broad Avenue so large that he had to call someone to pick him up.

“There’s different fundraisers you can use for the children, for your community,” he said. “You can do a fundraiser for school supplies. I use my time doing this. I did this to help the H.E.A.R.T. ministry. I really appreciate being able to do my fundraiser to help the children.

“Whatever we put our mind to, we can change a child’s life in the community.”

The organization’s largest single fundraiser each year is held during the annual Martin Luther King Day breakfast that H.E.A.R.T. sponsors. It also holds a “Dollars of Hope” campaign each July through October to help pay for shoes.

This year’s goal is 500 pairs of shoes, H.E.A.R.T. CEO and President Anne Johnson said. That will come at a cost of about $25,000. 

“This is the hardest season we’ve ever had” in 17 years, she said. “Right now, we’re at $8,000. We’ve got a long way to go.”

The deadline for placing the order to have the shoes ready in December is Oct. 15, so the organization is asking area residents to pitch in for the next few weeks to help them reach the goal.

“We are asking the community to help us,” Johnson said. “We did five (schools) last December, then we got a call from Alice Coachman (Elementary School). So we wanted to pick that school up. We made a commitment to do 500 pairs.”

To make a donation, visit the H.E.A.R.T. website at www.heartcares2.com.

Harrison has been an inspiration in the past and has excelled this year, Johnson said. 

“Josh didn’t come up with an excuse,” she said. “He came up with a plan of action.”