Thankfully, most reading this have never known what it’s like to be cold or to go without shoes; however, one local teen group is working to help make sure area foster children have a warm winter – and warm toes.

The band, “All the Way,” which is comprised of area students – Skylar York, Loni Blatz, Joseph Snider, Meredith Rogers, Ethan Barton, Christian Wossilek and Josh Jones, is hosting a “Walk a Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes” coat and shoe drive.

Wossilek, a seventh grader at Andalusia Middle School and the band’s lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player, said the purpose of the Saturday event, “is to have people bring gently used or new shoes and coats to be donated to Department of Human Resources. The items will be given to children in the foster system, and also to children in the Child Protection Program.”

“This community has been so supportive of me and this band, and this drive is our way of giving back and doing something for kids who really need it,” Wossilek said.

Cash donations will also be accepted to help purchase needed items for those in DHR care.

“The way we’ve got it set up is that you can drive through, and you don’t even have to stop – unless you want to, of course,” Wossilek said. “We’ll be performing a free concert for anyone who wants to come out and listen.”

Blatz, fellow band member, said, “We don’t get to do things like this all the time. We don’t know how fortunate we are until we actually walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, and this is our way of giving back.”

The event will be held this Sat., Nov. 17, from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. in the parking lot of Car-Quest, directly across from Powell Furniture.