--- title: "Forget Santa, this enlisted airman just gifted 1,300 pairs of shoes to Honduran kids in need" description: "Senior Airman Britney Donnelly donated 1,368 pairs of shoes for kids in need during her deployment to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras." date: "2021-12-22" modified: "2021-12-22" authors: - name: "David Roza" job_title: "YouTube Writer/Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/david-roza/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-honduras-holiday-donation/" categories: - "Air Force" - "Americas" - "Around the World" - "Military Branches" - "News" tags: - "southern command" --- # Forget Santa, this enlisted airman just gifted 1,300 pairs of shoes to Honduran kids in need ![]() *Air Force Senior Airman Britney Donnelly, a weather forecaster assigned to the 612th Air Base Squadron, Joint Task Force Bravo, organizes shoes at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Dec. 16, 2021. Donnelly collected 1,368 pairs of shoes through a nonprofit organization to be donated for children of Comayagua and La Paz. (Air Force photo / Maria Pinel)* “Excellence in all we do,” is one of the three core values taught to airmen at basic military training. But one airman seems to have added her own twist to it: “excellence in all we shoes.” At least, that’s the impression one might get from Senior Airman Britney Donnelly, who donated 1,368 pairs of shoes for kids in need during the airman’s six-month deployment to Honduras. "As soon as I got here, I was thinking of something that I could do to help, especially during the season of giving — it's my favorite time!" said Donnelly, a weather forecaster with the 612th Air Base Squadron deployed to Soto Cano Air Base. ![]() *Air Force Senior Airman Britney Donnelly, a weather forecaster with the 612th Air Base Squadron, Joint Task Force Bravo, poses for a photo with shoes she collected through a nonprofit organization at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Dec. 16, 2021. The shoes will be donated to children from different communities near Soto Cano AB by units across the task force. (Air Force photo / Maria Pinel)* Honduras is[ one of the poorest]() countries in the Western Hemisphere, and service members deployed to Soto Cano frequently volunteer by supporting orphanages or homes for underprivileged children, the Air Force wrote in a[ press release](). Donnelly wasted no time finding her own chance to help. "Airman Donnelly came to me as soon as she found out that I was the orphanage point of contact \[for our unit\],” said Tech. Sgt. Angela Lawrence, deputy airfield manager with the 612th. “She's a rock star, she's been trying to get a bunch of donations and being as involved and helpful as she can.” Donnelly did some research and came across Soles 4 Souls, a Tennessee-based nonprofit that distributes donated shoes and clothes around the world and has a distribution center near Soto Cano. “Originally, I was hoping to get at least 75 pairs for the orphanage that the 612th volunteers with," she said. The airman got way more than that, partly due to a miscommunication with the Soles 4 Souls vice president of outreach. "When I got in contact with them, she said she was able to get me five boxes of each size,” Donnelly said. “I was under the assumption that I would get five pairs of each size, not each box having 36 pairs each. It was a very great surprise!" ![]() *Volunteers hand out donated shoes during a visit to a hospital in Comayagua, Honduras, Dec. 19, 2021. The shoes were part of a donation collected by Senior Airman Britney Donnelly. (Air Force photo / Capt. Kenneth Parrish)* Like any good airman, Donnelly adapted to the situation. It was almost as if she took Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. ’s motto “accelerate change or lose” and spun it into “accelerate change or shoes.” Donnelly reached out to other units at Soto Cano so that they could distribute some of the shoes to the orphanages they volunteer with. “I would love to see the people that receive them and the impact that this has," the airman said. "This is one big shipment, so hopefully this will last us a little bit, and I would love for the unit to continue this project and keep it going." For Donnelly, volunteering is not just a downrange hobby. When she’s back at her home base of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, she works with animal shelters and the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. So back off Navy, Senior Airman Donnelly is the real ‘[global force for good]().’ ## Read more on Task & Purpose - [**The Navy is rusting away**]() **thanks to a crushing deployment cycle** - **Selfless service and sacrifice:** [**Meet the 3 newest Medal of Honor recipients**]() - [**Saboteur or fall guy?**]() **Inside the Navy case against sailor accused of torching the USS Bonhomme Richard** - **If you reenlist, the** [**US Army will let you ride in a helicopter**]() **most already get to ride in** - [**The Marine Corps may have blown its case**]() **against special operators accused of killing a former Green Beret** - [**Alwyn Cashe was a hero to his soldiers**]() **long before he charged into a burning vehicle in Iraq** - **Everyone should be jealous of this** [**Air Force pilot skateboarding down the flight line**]() **Want to write for Task & Purpose?** [**Click here**]()**. Or check out the latest stories on** [**our homepage.**]() ## Author David Roza writes scripts about military news for the Task & Purpose YouTube channel, and he also writes articles about military pay, benefits, health care, child care, culture, and other personnel topics on a freelance basis. Roza previously covered the Air Force and Space Force for Task & Purpose from 2019 to 2023 and for Air & Space Forces Magazine from 2023 to 2025. In the course of that reporting, he has set off a ‘Hollywood explosion’ with Air Force bomb techs, turned the (unarmed) keys of a nuclear missile bunker, hovered over the Nevada desert on an Air Force rescue helicopter, and got the best sleep of his life on the floor of a C-17 over the central Pacific. Share tips and story ideas with David at [david.roza@teamrecurrent.io]()