After the devastating earthquake in January, First and his mother saw a photo in Newsweek magazine that showed Haitians walking barefoot over the rubble.

"It looked like they needed shoes," said Tommy. "I mean, everybody was barefoot."

His mother remembers what happened next.

"A week later, I had a dream that Tommy did a shoe drive for Haiti, because of his love for shoes, and it was just a perfect fit so I told Tommy that, he said so why don't we do it? He said, I'm game for that," said Liz First, his mother.

So Tommy decorated boxes, dropped them off around town and did his best to get the word out.

Shoes starting flooding in and boxes started filling up.

"It just kept growing and growing, and it got bigger and bigger, and soon enough it turned into this," said Tommy as he stood next to boxes piled on top of one another.

"I just thought it was awesome how the community just responded to this. I felt it was just a great thing," said Tommy.

First says he knows shoes aren't the whole solution.

"It's the tip of the iceberg, it's the tip of the iceberg," he said.

But for a high school junior who loves shoes, what better way to make a difference?

"It's something he enjoys, and it's a good role model for other people to find their passion and use it to help others," said his mom Liz.

First has also collected more than $1,000 in donations.

He still hopes to collect more shoes - new, or slightly used, as he's been collecting all along -- especially children's shoes.

Contact Tommy by email or by phone: tommyfirst82@gmail.com, 269-591-5621.