He could simply have turned away. No one would have thought worse of him. In fact, they would have expected it. Max McMahan, after all, is a 13-year old boy saddled with a short attention span and an insatiable curiosity that makes it a challenge for him to complete a simple task. But Max’s heart wouldn’t let him just walk away.

The Cane Creek Middle School 7th grader is on his confirmation journey with Fletcher United Methodist Church, so over the summer he spent a week living “homeless,” walking the streets by day, sleeping fitfully at night on the floor of Asheville’s Central United Methodist Church. Walking in the footsteps of another opened his eyes to a need and sparked a desire in his heart.

“We took a walking tour around Asheville and what we saw was pretty rough,” he says. “We saw a lot of people out on the street. We had to walk 17 miles and we were pretty tired by the end of the day and our feet hurt. And the thing was, we had shoes. When we walked around, we noticed a lot of these homeless people don’t have shoes. Some of them walk in from Leicester. And that’s a good two-hour walk. I thought it was so sad that these people don’t have shoes.”

That was the moment Max decided he could make a difference. While still walking the streets of the city, he laid out his plan to his youth leader. He would start a shoe collection project called Soles for Souls. He would make sure those who had no roof over their head would at least have protection for their feet, especially with the cold winter months ahead.

He rushed home to tell his mother his plan. Nina McMahan smiled, nodded, and told him it was a great idea. In her mind, however, she wondered if her boy with the flighty attention span would stick with it.

“He’s a bit of a flibbertigibbet,” she says with a smile. “He just kind of goes off in all directions. Everything’s missing with Max—one shoe somewhere, one shoe somewhere else. Pens come apart. Telephones come apart. He’s a deconstructionist. I never thought something like this would come together.”

Six months later, Max is as excited as ever and just as committed to Soles for Souls. With support and encouragement from his parents, his church youth leader and his confirmation mentor, the teen’s vision of shoes on the feet of the homeless is a reality. Haywood Street Community Church on Patton Avenue is a collection and distribution point for the donated soles.

“All of us have so much to give. We have a lot that we keep to ourselves,” says Max. “Most of us have a pair of shoes lying around that we don’t need. We have a lot that we could give but we don’t.”

It is a different holiday season for Max this year. The child who once wished for everything is now a teen content with all things.

“He will say, ‘Mom, thank you for making us good meals. Thank you for having my clothes clean,’” Nina says. “Out of the blue, spur of the moment, he comes by and hugs me and thanks me and that’s not something he did a lot before.”

Give your gently used shoes to Soles for Souls. Donations are accepted Wednesdays between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Haywood Street Congregation at 297 Haywood Street in Asheville. Donations are also accepted daily at Mix 96.5 Asheville, 1190 Patton Avenue, where Tammy Jones is the morn- ing show cohost.