A Northfield woman is helping her home country on the other side of the world.

Virginie Cogan started a nonprofit to help a girls’ Catholic high school she attended in the West African country of Togo.

Friends of College Monfant is holding a supply drive at Champion Sports in downtown Northfield to collect gently used athletic shoes for girls at the school.

African girls as young as 14, Cogan says, can often be forced into an early marriage and motherhood, leaving little to no hope for a career or independence.

“My life was changed, and I want these girls’ lives to be changed,” Cogan said. “When you give and the other person gives, it becomes a circle of love, a circle of giving. Miracles happen.”

Over the last decade, Friends of College Monfant has raised about $75,000 for the school. Click here to donate.