A Campaign That Calls for Sole-Searching : Podiatrist Leads Drive to Gather Shoes Old and New for L.A.’s Needy

The party that podiatrist Pamela Leavitt tossed the other day in Northridge is a shoe-in for the summer’s most unusual.

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Party directions were in the form of boot prints outlined in chalk on sidewalks leading to her home.

The guests all arrived on foot. And they showed up carrying penny loafers, brogans and high heels in their hands as they mingled beneath a canopy of old sneakers suspended from a patio trellis.

This was one back yard party where the punch was one of the few things not laced.

It was another of Leavitt’s sole-searching get-togethers--part of a summer-long campaign to find shoes for needy Los Angeles residents.

The hundreds of pairs that her Merion Drive neighbors brought will be distributed to women in South-Central Los Angeles who are recovering from substance abuse and to runaway teen-agers in Hollywood who are trying to straighten out their lives.

Now, though, the shoes cover the living room floor of Leavitt’s new house, waiting to be picked up and delivered.

“It’s fortunate that we don’t have a lot of furniture in this room,” said Leavitt, 35.

Lucky, too, that the air conditioner is blowing in fresh air. A few of the shoes are new. But most are of the pre-owned variety.

That doesn’t bother officials of the two organizations that have already received loads of shoes from Leavitt and will soon get these as well.

“The women went crazy over the last ones,” said Bambi Piland, program specialist with 8-year-old Shields for Families, a South-Central group that assists mothers with drug-abuse problems and their children.

“We’re in need of everything at this point. We’re very grateful.”

It’s the same at Hollywood’s Covenant House, according to executive director Fred Ali.

“The shoes of kids on the street are not in the best shape. And [people] in our residential shelter and in our transitional living program are in great need of things like dress shoes or steel-toed work shoes,” he said.

The shoe shortage is apparently growing among Los Angeles’ most needy. Two weeks ago, about 7,000 children lined up--some overnight--for 5,000 pairs of new shoes given away in a back-to-school event by the Fred Jordan Mission in the Downtown Skid Row district.

The party attended by 50 Merion Drive residents mirrored a gathering a few weeks earlier that Leavitt held for co-workers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City, where she works as a foot doctor.

She said the idea for the shoe collection came from the California Podiatric Medical Assn., whose members have staged similar drives elsewhere in the state.

Her neighbors say they are already planning another shoe party--this one aimed at 25 or so families at the other end of the street.

Some, like Susan Passaniti, are already soliciting shoes from friends and co-workers.

“I collected four more bags today at work,” said Passaniti, a teacher’s assistant at San Fernando Elementary School.

“It’s a good cause and a good way for people to get together. Some of my neighbors have lived here 18 years and this is the first social event we’ve ever had.”

Leavitt said shoe parties are easy--once the podiatrist in her gets over the idea of giving women high heels to wear. “They’re not very good except to sit and look pretty in. But I pass them along,” she said.

She has polished her shoe-party etiquette, too.

“Everybody gets a name tag cut in the shape of a shoe,” Leavitt said.

And for those curious about the refreshments: “No, we don’t serve toe jam.”