By Donna Vickroy dvickroy@southtownstar.com Twitter: @dvickroy December 5, 2012 3:32PM

Since we last spoke with Mona Purdy in July, the founder of the Share Your Soles nonprofit group has been especially busy, even by her high-energy standards.

She’s opened a new warehouse in Chicago’s Pullman community, run a marathon, shipped a 40-foot container of shoes to Africa and helped deliver a baby by Caesarean section in a makeshift Uganda hospital.

DONNA VICKROY

dvickroy@southtownstar.com | (708) 633-5982

When we last chatted with Mona Purdy, she was getting ready to run the Chicago Marathon.

It was her first attempt, and if you’re wondering if she finished, well, you don’t know Mona Purdy.

Charity that puts shoes on feet around the world gets more space in Alsip

by Michael Drakulich

It almost sounds like a setup for an off-color joke: "Where else can you get a Jew, a Muslim and Christian gathered in one space, working side by side?"

But Mona Purdy's only half joking when she talks about the common cause that brings volunteers together at her Southland charity. It's the shoes.

SouthTown Star

By Michael Drakulich

It almost sounds like a setup for an off-color joke: “Where else can you get a Jew, a Muslim and Christian gathered in one space, working side by side?”

But Mona Purdy’s only half joking when she talks about the common cause that brings volunteers together at her Southland charity. It’s the shoes.

Now, Purdy’s charity, Share Your Soles, will have more space where her volunteers can work. The charity Purdy founded 11 years ago moved this week to its new headquarters at 5623 W. 115th St. in Alsip.

The new space will give Purdy and her crew access to as much as 500,000 square feet, up from about 400,000 at her previous location less than half a mile away.

The amount of space may seem like overkill. But given the scope of Purdy’s operation, she may need every inch. Share Your Soles collects new and used shoes from all over the country, cleans them, then distributes them to some of the poorest areas around the globe.