NATCHEZ — Cathedral School students recently reached out to victims of the tsunami in Japan in a way that hits closer to home than mailing a check.

The students lost count of exactly how many pairs of shoes they collected after number 700, but the estimate is up to 1,000 pairs of shoes that will soon be sent to victims of the disaster and other people in need through a charity called Soles4Souls.

Key Club advisor and high school religion teacher Jean Benoit said she and some Key Club members learned about Soles4Souls at a Key Club convention last year.

“We were thinking about (participating) and then when the earthquake happened, one of our seniors said we should do (a drive),” Benoit said.

Soles4Souls collects new or gently worn shoes to give relief to the victims of abject suffering and collects used shoes to eradicate poverty, the charity’s website says.

The shoe drive began three weeks ago, and one week into it Benoit’s classroom was stacked with mountains of shoes.

“We were climbing over the shoes to get to the air conditioning,” Benoit said.

The 44 high school Key Club members spent quite a few hour-long class periods counting and sorting the shoes.

Among the counters and sorters was Key Club member and high school senior Hannah Gordon.

“We were so excited because we thought we were finished counting, and I went to the elementary school for some weird reason and (shoe collections) were overflowing,” Gordon said.

Benoit said the shoes keep on coming, but the concentration has turned to raising money for shipping.

After a few private donations, a sale of $1 ribbons in support of the cause and two cookie sales, shipping funds have almost been collected.

“It’s amazing; I really didn’t anticipate the amount of shoes (collected),” Benoit said.

The shoes will be shipped to a warehouse in northern Alabama, where they will then be sent to needy disaster victims in Japan and to other disaster-ridden or poverty stricken locations.

Benoit said she and the Key Club members take their charity work seriously at Cathedral.

Perhaps as a result of members’ diligence, Cathedral was named one of the top three Key Clubs in the school’s district, which includes 125 schools in Louisiana, Mississippi and West Tennessee.

The Key Club raised more than $6,000 in community service projects last year, Benoit said.

“Part of what we talk about in religion (class) is the awareness of how fortunate you are and how others can benefit from what you can give them,” Benoit said.