B.C. girl collects hundreds of shoes for charity at annual lemonade stand

A 12-year-old girl in Port Moody, B.C., has set up a lemonade stand in her neighbourhood to collect hundreds of gently-used shoes to help children and families in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. 

It's the fifth year that Calliope Tyliakos has set up the stand, with the help of her mother. The pair promote the weekend-long event on social media and through their neighbourhood. 

Instead of charging money for lemonade, she asks customers to donate shoes.

"I thought it was just going to be one thing that I would do once," Tyliakos said, standing on her front lawn. "I never thought we would get to this day and see so many [shoes]."

Tyliakos said the idea was sparked when she was seven and participated in a running club. One day, she and her friends were "just talking about how to help the world" when their coach suggested collecting shoes and clothes for charity. 

2,000 shoes in 5 years

Since then, Tyliakos has collected more than 2,000 shoes in the past five years — 500 of them on Saturday alone. The shoes go to the local chapter of non-profit organization Ruben's Shoes, which collects shoes to help children around the world. 

Her mother, Michelle Tyliakos, said she's very proud of her daughter. Michelle says neighbours look forward to the event.  

"They literally wait for this event to clean out their closets," she said. 

Her daughter had initially told her this would be the last year for the event, but Calliope said she's having second thoughts about that decision because this year's event was so successful.