Countywide : Podiatrists Give Poor Much-Needed Shoes

Enrique Ramirez gets around with the help of a couple of battered crutches that someone gave him after he was hit by a car while crossing a street a few months ago.

With his badly injured right leg, Ramirez--who has no job, insurance or government assistance--limped into the basement of the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana on Thursday in search of some comfortable loafers.

“Today, I’m sleeping in a garage. Tomorrow, I’ll be on the streets. I don’t have anything,” Ramirez said, hunching over as he tried on a pair of worn-out gray tassled shoes.

“Now I have these,” he said, lifting his new loafers by the heels and smiling.

Ramirez, 37, was one of about 300 people who received used shoes at the Orange County Podiatric Medical Assn.’s second annual shoe giveaway.

Doctors who belong to the association collected nearly 5,000 pairs of used footwear this year.

Dr. Jeffrey R. DeSantis, an association board member, said many poor people suffer from serious foot injuries and diseases because they have cannot afford shoes.

More than 80 members of the podiatric association collected boxes full of used shoes in their offices, as did the Walking Store in several malls throughout the county and the Sisters of St. Joseph in Orange.

Association members and volunteers from the Episcopal Service Alliance distributed the shoes at the church and will continue to give them away until they are gone, DeSantis said.

“If people are wearing shoes, it’s like preventive foot care,” said DeSantis, a foot surgeon. “Instead of having them come in with lacerations on their feet, they won’t have to see doctors.”

Kevin W. Berry, who is homeless, picked out a pair of shiny black dress shoes. “OK, these are just what I needed,” the 30-year-old man said. “I needed black shoes for my job I just got as a security guard.”

Maria Andrade, 42, scooped up 10 pairs of shoes including slippers, boots, sandals, pumps and sneakers for herself, her husband and three children.

“We don’t have any money to buy new shoes,” Andrade said. “This is so great because nobody’s shoes last.”