More than a year after starting, Step on Poverty has met their goal of collecting 9,000 pairs of shoes. The collection of shoes, also called the shoe initiative, is one of three areas that the organization focuses on: the environment, business consulting and environmental protection. Some members were very relieved when they heard that their goal had been met.

“It was overwhelming but in a good way,” Step on Poverty secretary, junior Puja Kumar said. “Our main goal has finally been accomplished.”

With the completion of the shoe initiative, some members are looking forward to moving forward as an organization.

“Before, we were just focusing on reaching our goal,” sophomore Jennifer Won said. “Now we have the business consulting initiative, and we really want to work on getting more clients and improving the website and social media for them.”

The goal of the business consulting initiative is to help increase the online presence and to guide local business leaders when they have problems. With the end of the shoe initiative, members can concentrate more on improving local businesses.

“Now we can spend more time in general on [the businesses],” sophomore Carol Zhang said.

Another area that will receive more attention is the environmental initiative.

“We have new recycling bins that we’re going to put at Troy High, I.A. and Athens that just came in,” Kumar said.

Step on Poverty will also implement new programs that will affect the city as a whole.

“We’re thinking of starting a community garden and a share table,” Won said.

The organization is also looking to start new initiatives.

“We’re probably going to start a medical and educational initiative,” Kumar said.

Some members of the organization are excited to get more involved in the local community.

“It was an amazing moment knowing these shoes would be put to better use for people that need them more than we do,” Kumar said. “But now we’re going to start branching off and becoming an organization that is involved in our community rather than places around the world.”

All 9,000 pairs of shoes will be packed and shipped to Africa and South America on Nov. 5.