One of the Mussmon children washes the feet of a Haitian boy on their trip with Soles4Souls. For most Northern Virginia families, daily life is consumed by working late, commuting and juggling kids schedules. For the Mussmon’s, Chad, Tiffany, Noah 16, Grace 14, Jeremiah 12, Graham 9 and Vaughn 8, that is compounded with owning and operating six The Little Gym franchises in Northern Virginia and a few sport games on any given week night.
“We go non-stop, self-consuming, unintentionally forgetting about the world around us. Luckily, we were able to get a wakeup call through a charity program call, Soles4Souls,” Chad Mussmon said.
The Little Gyms of Northern Virginia partnered with Soles4Soles, and with the help of The Little Gym members and their surrounding communities, they were able to collect over 10,000 pairs of shoes and workboots, and travel to Haiti for an experience of a lifetime.
Soles4Souls is a global not-for-profit institution dedicated to fighting the devastating impacts of poverty. The organization advances its anti-poverty mission by collecting new and used shoes and clothes from individuals, schools, faith-based institutions, civic organizations and corporate partners. Then, they distributing those shoes and clothes via direct donations to people in need and by provisioning qualified micro-enterprise programs designed to create jobs in poor and disadvantaged communities. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Soles4Souls is committed to the highest standards of operating and governance and holds a four-star rating with Charity Navigator.
While Mussmon knew the cause of providing shoes to those in Haiti was noble, he was surprised by how much the participants gained from the experience. Before they even left for Haiti, he knew the work his The Little Gym franchises did with Soles4Souls impacted his customers. Specifically, it helped even young children to understand poverty for the first time.
“I was able to have meaningful conversations with children at The Little Gym about the people in the world who do not have the basic necessity of shoes. They understood the impact of just one donation of a pair of shoes and were excited for the opportunity to be able to make a difference in another child’s life,” Mussmon said.
Mussmon also recognized a change in his own family, which he said forced them to slow down and look at the needs of others.
“I knew we needed to travel with Soles4Souls to help distribute shoes, serve and experience another culture,” he said. “That’s where the adventure began.”
All seven members of his family embarked out of the country together for the first time. He admitted that traveling with five minor children to a third world country may be deemed “a little insane,” by some, but he said it was more rewarding than any relaxing luxury vacation would have been.
“It changed our lives and bonded us stronger than ever,” he said.
The Mussmon family got to know many of the Haitian children.The country of Haiti is beautiful, but poverty and tragedy scars the land, he explained. However, people are people, and as his family fitted children with shoes, washed their feet, exchanged smiles, played and laughed, it became more and more apparent to him that the children of Haiti were giving his family more than they could ever give them materially. From orphanages to schools, each experience poured out the same results.
Mussmon explained the experience is his own words:
Each day we grew closer as a family. Each day we observed more poverty. We were somewhat scared in a few situations. Exiting the airport into a crowd that wanted to carry your bag for a dollar (this could feed their family for a day). A fight broke out on the street near us, the driving was dangerous and treacherous (beltway traffic seems mild now.) We had to ride in the back of a dump truck when the clutch went out on our van through the streets of Port Au Prince. Motorcycles with three riders; usually including a small child or baby, would zoom past us. We witnessed tent cities that were packed with people and found others who called very simple dwellings their home.The common denominator, however, was smiles and gratitude. And that is what stuck with us, not the poverty, but the joy among the obvious struggle.
This world and the needs of this world are huge. It is important for us in the Northern Virginia area to push our kids for the best grades, to be over achievers and succeed, but I am doing a disservice to my children if that learning process does not include love, service, humility and a strong understanding of the world outside of Northern Virginia. I know this experience has shaped their lives and my family’s future. We will travel again, I cannot imagine life without more experiences like this and I encourage others to take a risk, enjoy service and embark on a life-changing adventure.
Find out more about Soles4Souls.
Among The Little Gym franchises that the Mussmons own and operate, include The Little Gym at Atlas Walk in Gainesville.
Written cooperatively by Ashleigh Jackett and Chad Mussmon of The Little Gym and Stacy Shaw of Bristow Beat.
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