500 pairs of shoes needed

500 pairs of shoes needed
July 14, 2011
Love INC seeking help to put shoes on homeless kids feet

Stephenie Livingston Suwannee Democrat

Live Oak — A first grader was living in a truck with his mother and two other siblings. On his first day at a Suwannee District school this past school year, his jeans were too big, “falling off” were his teacher’s words, and his shoes were in bad shape.

Suwannee teachers report throughout the school year that homeless students don’t have adequate footwear. Some shoes are missing laces, others soles. Some homeless children even come to school barefoot.

Now a local nonprofit is seeking the community’s help.

Love INC, a Christian organization that assists families in need, is challenging local churches, agencies and civic groups to collect 500 pairs of new tennis shoes for homeless children in Suwannee County beginning July 15 and ending August 15. The tennis shoes can be any size for children kindergarten through 12th grade.

Love INC will collect the shoes at their facility at 609 5th Street SW Suite 5 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. daily. Shoes can also be dropped off at the Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce in Live Oak at Old City Hall on North Ohio Avenue from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

“While a lot of students will have a cool Harry Potter or LL Bean embroidered backpack on the first day of school, these children just want underwear and a clean pair of socks and new shoes,” said Sherrie Anderson, fundraising coordinator for Love INC.

She said the community must understand the extent of the issue and how far reaching homelessness is in Suwannee County in order to combat the problem. In June of last year there were over 360 homeless students in Suwannee County schools. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines “homeless children and youths” as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”  This definition is broad enough to include “the hidden homeless,” including children and youth that are temporarily doubled-up in housing because they cannot afford a place to live. It also includes those who sleep in a shelter, or a car, park, abandoned building, substandard housing, or low-budget motels.  Those classified as Unaccompanied Homeless Youth are young people who lack safe, stable housing and who are not in the care of a parent or guardian.

Many homeless children in this county are shuffled between family members, according to Anderson.

“I want the community to know what a huge issue this is,” said Anderson. “We as a community need to do something.”

Eventually, she hopes the organization will be able to provide new complete outfits for homeless students. To do that, she said it will take involvement from the entire community.

For some of these students, the first day of school is a dreaded experience. Sometimes, children do not show up because they lack shoes or are embarrassed by their clothes.

For this particular shoe driver, the organization asks that only new shoes be donated.

“We want them to feel special. On the first day of school, as they look at the student to their right and to their left, with a totally new outfits, at least they will have new shoes,” said Anderson.

It’s so very important that these students have necessities, like shoes, she said. “I don’t feel like five hundred pairs is unrealistic.”

Love INC is providing other ways the community can help students meet their basic needs for the new school year.

There are currently nine homeless students in summer school at Suwannee Elementary. Five of them don’t have enough clean underwear, according to Anderson. Love INC is also hosting an outreach program called “Stuff the Bug”. They are working along with local churches to gather underwear, socks, deodorant, toothpaste, and other things of this nature.

The finale will be held at Walmart on SR 129 on July 30 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Homeless advocate for Suwannee County Schools Melanie Buchanan said there are approximately 232 active homeless students currently in the District and over 310 entered the program during the 2010-11 school year. When students enter the homeless program, they are given two new outfits and one pair of shoes. The younger students are provided with crayons while the older students are given calculators.

With budget cuts to special programs and stimulus money drying up, Homeless Liaison Lisa Garrison said the funding they are getting is essentially needed for medical care and counseling. She said the community is helping to provide necessities, and their program needs that help to continue.

However, it's not just about getting them in a school five days a week and making sure students are clothed and healthy. It’s about how much self-confidence a new pair of shoes can give.

Anderson told a story of a student who was constantly acting up in class. Teachers couldn’t understand what the problem was. Why was he acting out? Then one day the child opened up to a faculty member that other students were teasing him about his worn, generic tennis shoes, and told her that’s why he acted out. Wanting to help the student’s feelings, the faculty member bought the student a new pair of shoes.

“Teachers saw a huge improvement. New shoes made all the difference,” Anderson said.

Often, all that is needed is a little self-confidence or something to make them feel special.

“It is unbelievable what it does for a student to have a new pair of shoes on,” said Garrison. “It doesn’t seem that important to some of us, but I get emails from teachers and grandparents saying how it changed the child and gave them some self-confidence. Just because of a new pair of shoes.”

The first grader, living in a truck with his mother and siblings, was given a new pair of jeans, shirt, shoes and a used jacket that had been donated to the school’s homeless program. His teacher thanked the program’s advocates, “You have made one little boy very happy! It’s amazing how a new pair of jeans, shirt and jacket can completely change an attitude.”

She added, “..The jacket is a little small, but he won’t take it off. He loves it.”

MY THOUGHTS

Great idea!  I hope they get all the shoes they need.  And I hope I'd get the guts to start something like this.