Woman Buys Out Payless Store So She Can Donate Shoes To Flood Victims

Tragedies, as devastating as they may be, bring a community together in a way that nothing else can. Helping others is a natural human instinct, one that allows us to put aside our differences and lift each other up when it’s needed most.

Case in point, Addy Tritt just went above and beyond for victims of flooding in the midwest. The 25-year-old just bought out the entire stock of a closing shoe store so she could donate it all to Nebraska flood victims.

Since Payless announced that they were going out of business in February, the company has been liquidating its assets in all 2,100 of its stores. When Hay’s Big Creek Crossing location dropped their prices to $1 a pair, Addy decided to approach Payless about purchasing all of the shoes left in the store.

She was on a mission to buy out all 204 pairs for charity, but she knew she could not pay the $6,000 total price tag for all the shoes. After two-and-a-half hours of negotiation, the Fort Hays State graduate was able to convince the store to sell her everything in stock for only $100, which also included 162 pairs of baby shoes and two pairs of men’s shoes. The rest were women’s shoes.

Addy donated the shoes to a sorority at Fort Hays State University, which is her alma mater, as they were organizing a donation drive at the time. They then sent the shoes along with the rest of the donations to a Future Farmers Association (FFA) chapter in Wilcox, Nebraska.

She shared that she knows the importance of helping others because she was on the receiving end in the past.

Addy said:

“I have been so blessed. There have been so many great people in my life who have inspired me. So many people have helped me when I was down, I want to help if I can. I just hope this inspires other people to volunteer and donate if you have been blessed.”

The historic flooding in the state took the lives of several people last month and left over eight million residents under flood warnings.