SIMI VALLEY : School Collects 1,424 Shoes for Homeless

Sitting atop a three-foot pile of sneakers, boots and sandals, five Madera Elementary School students sorted through 712 pairs of shoes Tuesday, carefully matching soles to soles.

They were not being punished. Instead, the Simi Valley students were packing up the results of a weeklong project in which area families donated shoes for homeless men, women and children in greater Los Angeles.

“This is something to teach them--that there are people less fortunate than us,” said parent Tricia Brown, who helped to organize the shoe drive. “The kids really enjoyed it.”

Madera students collected more than 500 coats for the homeless last winter, and decided to launch a shoe drive this spring. The school’s goal was to collect one pair of shoes for each of the school’s 640 students, Brown said.

With a pair of tricolored baby shoes tied to her red ponytail, Brown’s 9-year-old daughter, also named Tricia, underscored the importance of the shoe drive. “Children can’t go to school without shoes,” she said.

“It helps people,” added Anders Johnson, 9, who tossed four of his own shoes--a hefty pair of brown boots and a snazzy pair of size 2 blue tennis shoes--into the collection bag.

“They were in pretty good shape,” he said. “A lot of people (brought) like 12 shoes or a whole bagful.”

Brown launched the drive to boost community service at her daughter’s school. She initially sought out several local charities to find one that could benefit from Madera’s plans.

“I really wanted a group that could take them and distribute immediately, not have them sit in a thrift store,” she said.

Eventually, she settled on Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, hoping to serve as many needy people as possible. The city’s oldest and largest mission, Union Rescue provides food, clothing, shelter and medical care to about 2,000 people every day.

“What most people don’t realize is how important shoes are for the homeless,” said Darlene Colvin, a spokeswoman for Union Rescue Mission. “These shoes mean a lot.”

More than 8,000 homeless individuals are treated each year at the mission’s health center for foot ailments related to poor shoes, or no shoes, mission officials said.

“One of their main means of transportation is walking; it is something we take for granted,” said Aaron Strehlow a nurse practitioner with the UCLA School of Nursing, which runs the mission’s health center.

Homeless people who do not have proper shoes suffer from swollen feet, painful callouses and infections, Strehlow said. But buying shoes is difficult, if not impossible, for many men and women who are without homes.

“If a family is homeless, shoes are expensive,” Strehlow said. “The normal day-to-day things go way down on the list to finding a place to eat and sleep.”

Fourth-grader Anders said he hopes donating his shoes will ease that financial burden for someone. “There may be a lot of people who need them,” he said.