Where to Ship Your Flips

Hello All,
Thank you for being patient while we get our bearings. Or shall I say our "footing" :)
There are still two options for you. Ship or store. If you choose to ship, we do not have a fund to assist you with these expenses, please understand.
There is an organization in Kansas City called C3 Missions that is filling a semi RIGHT NOW for Haiti. They will drive the semi to Miami and then it goes over to Haiti on a ship. The semi is about 3/4 the way full. If you choose to ship your shoes please send them to:

C3 Missions International
Attn: Cathie Simpson
3000 NW 50th Street
Kansas City, MO 64150

Cathie asked us to have the shipments there by October 15. If by chance the semi is full before that date and/or shoes arrive after, they have several teams traveling in the near future. PLEASE do the following when shipping your shoes.

1) For flip flops, if there is already an elastic or plastic ring holding the flips together, please remove the little plastic hanger.
2) Please email me when you ship your shoes and let me know the amount of shoes sent.
3) Please enclose a note with your shoes saying that you are with the Flip Flop Fleet

If you don't have all your shoes yet or don't want to spend the money on shipping, feel free to to just wait for now.

Here is a video of Mike Fox, Founder of C3 Missions on his recent visit to Haiti. They are very short videos:



Here is the link to the orphanage (not a C3 Orphanage)that was destroyed that is referred to in the first story:



Please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers! Before any raindrops fell, any storm hit, and before any flooding occurred this was already a destitute and desperate country. I am so glad we can help in some way. Thank you Flip Flop Friends and Fans.

We are just getting started!

Profile on a Peapod!

I was surfing around from blog to blog the other night looking at some new blogs. I found a few that caught my eye and I left comments. I decided to leave the address for the Flip Flop Blog on them, as who knows? Maybe someone will be moved to go check it out and see what we are all about. Sure enough, someone did! A new (and very efficient) Flip Flop Friend! Cris Peters and her girls from Sorrento, FL. She tells it better than I ever could, so please FLIP on over to her BLOG Thank you Cris and thank you to your sweet girls! We are going to have your shoes go to Haiti via C3 Missions International. They are in the process of filling a semi in Kansas City with items for those affected by the storms and we are happy to work with them.

Flip Flop Friends and Fans!!

First of all, we have more FANS than I can even list so THANK YOU so much for supporting us with your prayers! You are a blessing to us, and we can feel your prayers as we have gone from 203 pairs of shoes to 774 pairs in just one week! We feel like things will slow down a bit as the summer shoes are being clearanced out (my brother chuckled when I told him this, saying, "You never know!" ) Now we will just shift our focus to tennies! Don't forget to stop in at local thrift stores for quality, gently-used sandals, flips and tennies! If we have more southerners sign on, I am sure you can purchase summery shoes all year 'round, but here in Minnesota, the well is running dry!

Here are the FRIENDS I already posted:

The Flynn Family - Boulder City (Las Vegas), Nevada
Denise Runde and family - Omaha, NE
Chuck Hujet - Appleton/Green Bay, WI
Nichole Cheeney - Phoenix, AZ
Holly Kindbom - Denver, CO
Mindy Fitzgerald - Houston, TX

Here are the FRIENDS that have joined us in the past few weeks:

Margie Broman - Eagan, MN
Laurie Best - Columbia Hts, MN
Laura Hayden - Troy, MI
Jennifer Miles - Fallsington, PA
Donna Henderson - St. Louis, MO
Heather Walvoord - Austin, TX
Carlee Russell - Riverside, CA
Charity White - Lenexa, KS

That is 14 FRIENDS in 13 states.

If I missed anyone (oooh, I am sorry!) please email me at flipflopfleet@gmail.com
I was also contacted by some that I didn't list as a FRIEND as I wasn't sure if that is what they wanted, so if you fall into that category, let me know.

I know it isn't an accident that people have "found" the blog. This is yet another blessing!

Woo Hoo!

We just flipped over the 500 pair mark!

Our First Bit of Publicity!

Thanks to BeCentsAble for posting about the Flip Flop Fleet and thanks to Emily who let them know and thanks to Jenny for posting the blog that Emily read!

AND Whitney, who also posted on her blog after reading Jenny's blog!

Please Flip Flop On Over...

...to this blog. What a lovely post, Jenny, thank you!

Profile on...Denise Runde and her Walgreens Adventures!

Denise Runde is a co-worker of mine from Omaha, NE. We have worked together for nearly 10 years and she is a GEM!! She is DEFINITELY the most enthusiastic Flip Flopper out there! She has personally collected 158 pairs of shoes! She makes nothing seem impossible. I could try to explain the GREAT idea that Denise had but here she is in her own words -

OK, I just got the best deal on some flip flops. I called around to my local Walgreens to see who still had some left! Well, I went to one and I talked to the manager to see if she wanted to "make a deal" well she did. They have flip flops that are $1.99 and are 75% off that price. I told her I would buy all the $1.99 shoes if she would sell them to me for $.25 a pair she said "YES". I was soooo excited. I purchased 43 pairs for $11.00. I would suggest calling around to your local Walgreens to see if they have any summer shoes left. They are just wanting to get rid of them!!!!! Good luck and I'll be going to a few more Walgreens tomorrow "to make a deal" Happy shoe hunting :


So I followed her lead and stopped by a Walgreens over lunch. I was able to buy 67 pairs of flip flops for .25 each. I also asked about the crocs. The manager said she could only go as low as $1.50. I said that we really needed to keep it to $1.00 and she said ok! So I got 27 pairs of crocs, too!

If you are willing, please stop by your local Walgreens (or two). Ask for the manager and explain that we are collecting shoes for kids in need. Then tell them we have worked with Walgreens locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. The woman today told me I was helping her out, too. They need to get the rest of their Halloween stuff out! BUT, as Denise told me, THE TIME IS NOW! THE FLIP FLOPS ARE ON CLEARANCE NOW!

Denise is also excited about what her boys, Jackson and Sam, are learning from this. Aren't they adorable?

Her husband had to get on the roof to take this picture, and this isn't even all the shoes! You rock, Rundes!! Way to go making this a family affair!!

Profile on...Holly Kindbom

Since Holly is obviously a very adventurous person, she didn't even hesitate to jump on board the Fleet!

She was also was one of the quickest respondents - within a week of joining our adventure she had already purchased a ton of shoes! She is now up to 120 pair!! I know her through Entertainment, where we both work, but she is based in Colorado.

Yeah, Holly!! THANK YOU!!

Who Are We?

We are Lee and Dawn Shelton, the founders of the FLEET. We are excited about the possibilities of this endeavor and eager to get it going! Like one of our new FRIENDS Carlee said, our wish is that no parent has to choose between feeding their children or getting them shoes. Perfectly said, Carlee, thank you. We want to start with shoes for Haiti, as that is where our children are, and we have a number of contacts there. We are not limiting ourselves to providing shoes to just Haiti. If there is a group going on a missions trip somewhere and would like to take some shoes, we will work with them!


Here are our kids, Philippe and Patricia (pronounced pa-tree-see-a), pictured at their orphanage in Port-au-Prince. We are also waiting for a baby girl from China.


Here is the first picture of Flips and Sandals - this is 45 pair. The dogs are excited about it!! We have six new Flip Flop Friends and a handful of Fans, so I will be posting on this soon!

Do We ONLY Want Flip-Flops?

The answer is no. Actually, we are collecting any kind of sandals, any size. We are also collecting gently used shoes, as well, especially with how quickly kids grow out of sizes!

Here are some pictures of some of the shoes that we would like to collect in addition to flip flops. These all are used shoes, actually.

If you have any questions feel free to email us at flipflopfleet@gmail.com!

OLD NAVY Flips Flops on CLEARANCE

Carlee and Jennifer M, from Bloggyland, have found the FLEET! They both emailed to let me know that OLD NAVY has flips on clearance. Carlee also mentions that if you spend $50, shipping is free. Yay!

The girls flips are, shall we say, more affordable than the boys flips on clearance, for some reason. But we are short on boys flips so far and boys could wear these, too, dontcha think? What makes flips boy flips vs. girl flips? Maybe just avoid more "girly" colors and we can outfit more boys, too. Now I know that the color thing isn't that important in orphanages and villages, because I have seen pictures of boys in pink shirts many times, but I'm just sayin'. Maybe they would rather have green or blue! :)

Also, all sizes are ok. Even some adult sizes here and there are great. At our kids' orphanage there are a lot of older kids, and the nannies and workers need shoes, too. Plus, like I said, our goal is to reach beyond Haiti to wherever a need is found. Things are moving and shaking! More to report soon!!

The Fleet is Launched...

I decided a few months back that I wanted to do something more with my life. I recalled the director of Patricia and Philippe's orphanage saying, "Parents in Haiti would rather their children have shoes than food." In a country where people are indeed starving and 1 of 4 children die before the age of 10, this is a truly profound statement. That was it...I would collect SHOES. We decided to call our endeavor the Flip Flop Fleet. We will work with the contacts we have in Haiti to start with, but not end with. We are willing to work with any country in need!

We are still getting things together. We want to have non-profit status. We have a website reserved. But here is what we do know. We already have a board of directors in place. We have a logo nearly finished.

We have a minimum goal of FIFTY Flip Flop Friends (in FIFTY cities) and FIFTY Flip Flop Fans.

The definition of a Flip Flop Friend is:
1) Someone who is willing to gather a minimum of 50 pairs of flip flops or sandals over the course of a year. One of our board members recently purchased 25 pair for .49 each. You could throw a party and ask all of your guests to bring a pair. However you choose to get your flip flops is up to you.

2) You do not ship your Flips to me. First of all, we don't want to waste unnecessary shipping expenses. Second, we don't have the space :). Third, one of our goals is to work with churches to coordinate missions trips with shoe delivery. For example, a group that is going to the Phillipines may be willing to take some Flips with them to deliver to the village(s) they are traveling to serve.

The definition of a Flip Flop Fan is:
1) Someone who makes occasional monetary or shoe donations.
2) Someone who is willing to commit to pray for this ministry.

We are open to ideas so please leave a comment or contact us via email at flipflopfleet@gmail.com with suggestions. Also, please email me to let me know if you would like to sign up as a Flip Flop Fleet Friend or Fan.

Here are the Friends we have so far:
The Flynn Family - Boulder City (Las Vegas), Nevada
Denise Runde - Omaha, NE
Chuck Hujet - Appleton/Green Bay, WI
Nichole Cheeney - Phoenix, AZ
Holly Kindbom - Denver, CO
Mindy Fitzgerald - Houston, TX


Don't let it stop you if someone from your city or state is already a Friend. We all need more Friends! :)

I am so excited! It is a great time of year to get Flips on clearance - won't you consider making a purchase or two?