A shoe drive for Haitian orphans will be held on campus this week in honor of earthquake victim Molly Hightower.

Molly volunteered with orphans and disabled children in Haiti during the last months of her life. When she visited her family in December, she worked with family to collect shoes for the children, said Jordan Hightower, Molly's sister and a WSU graduate student.

"It can make a really big difference down there," Jordan said. "In something as small as a used pair of shoes, you're helping a child who doesn't have anything."

Since Molly's death, her family has expanded the shoe drive, which will end this weekend, she said. They've collected nearly 20,000 shoes.

Shoe bins will be in the CUB Lair and Rec Center until Thursday, she said. After that, she will take the donations from Pullman back to the west side for a final tally.

"I'm really excited," she said. "I will hopefully have too many for my car."

Jordan said the family was inspired to bring the shoe drive to Pullman because college students have used shoes in larger sizes for older orphans. "I think we all probably have an extra pair in our closet we don't wear that often," she said. "I know I have more shoes than I need in my closet."

Along with the shoe drive, money is being donated to the Haitian relief effort in Molly's honor.

The family requested that donations in Molly's memory go to the Friends of the Orphans Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund at www.friendsoftheorphans.org/molly. "Now, we've realized that Molly's death, while tragic, really sparked something in people to want to do something to help," Jordan said. "We've seen that in how many shoes we've collected, and the money being donated in her name is incredible."

She said the family has received a lot of support from WSU, and she expects the shoe drive to be a success.

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support we've received from WSU in this insanely difficult time," she said.