Christopher Patrick King
NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of Culver City Progress Blog articles highlighting local community groups doing good work in Culver City. Please see the postings on the Culver City Sister City Committee here and here and on the Martin Luther King Planning Committee here.
Miracles do happen here in Culver City.
Our community ought to be known not just for its vibrant social life, excellent school district and close neighborhood ties. We also are home to some wonderfully resilient individuals and many dedicated citizens who care about improving the lives of others.
I will highlight the above points with a true story: one that happened just a month ago right here in Culver City.
"John" is a man who has been homeless for the last three years. He has been living in one of Culver City’s temporary shelters geared toward those actively seeking permanent, supportive housing. He is also looking for employment, or at least he was until about three weeks ago. And, as if the current labor market in Los Angeles County were not difficult enough to navigate, "John" also faces the challenge of being an amputee and having only one arm. Again, this is a true story.
"John" meets consistently with his case worker at the shelter at which he lives. She advises him on resources available to him for his health and housing needs. She also tries to help him identify employment opportunities that will enable him to afford his own place to live. One particular day that "John" enters her office, she looks down at his feet and notices his shoes. The dirty tennis shoes are worn, contain holes and are clearly a size or two too big for his feet. She sighs to herself with the ambivalence knowing that the job interview that she has lined up for him, while exciting news, will be a difficult one for him to land with the less-than-professional attire that he wears.
But it is "John's" lucky day. Thanks to a new, Culver-City-based non-profit organization, Shoes for the Homeless, "John" is about to be outfitted with a beautiful new pair of dress shoes.
Shoes for the Homeless founder, Dr. Ira Diamond, is a local podiatrist. And fortunately for many local shelters that serve homeless and poor individuals, he decided to channel his professional life into an organization that transforms the lives of others. The mission of Shoes for the Homeless is to provide gently used and new shoes free of charge to the homeless. To do this, Dr. Diamond and his fellow board members (Rosalind La Briola and Christopher Patrick King) reach out to local shelters, identify need and set up shoe deliveries to these organizations with the only stipulation being that they give them out to their clients at no charge. Dr. Diamond and the Board also organize shoe drives and reach out to generous community members at gyms, schools, churches and synagogues in order to collect these gently used and new shoes. The community response has been tremendous, and Shoes for the Homeless has accumulated literally thousands of pairs of shoes in the last 6 months.
Thankfully for "John," the day before his visit to the social worker, Dr. Diamond had also reached out to her and created a partnership. Having looked at his disheveled shoes that day, she knew just who to call.
“'John' needed size 9 men’s dress shoes,” Dr. Diamond recalls. And he needed shoes that would be easy to put on due to his having only one arm. Dr. Diamond went to the organization’s supply of shoes, dug through them to find a clean pair of men’s black size 9s, noticed that they were slip-ons, and drove them over to "John's" social worker.
And then the miracle happened. "John" showed up for his job interview in his new pair of dress shoes. He walked in with confidence, having adequate attire. And he got the job. Dr. Diamond still gets chocked up when he recalls the phone call from "John's" social worker telling him that "John" landed the job.
If most of us looked in the forgotten corners of our closets, we would probably find small stockpiles of shoes, many probably lightly worn, if at all. These, to those of us at Shoes for the Homeless, are like nuggets of gold. Be they tennis shoes, dress shoes, high heels or children’s shoes, there is need for any and all of them. Throughout Los Angeles County, we have over 50,000 homeless. This includes people who may live in temporary shelters, in vehicles, with friends and relatives or on the streets. Some need shoes just to keep their fee dry. Some, like "John," need a nice pair to land that critical interview that will change their lives and enable them to achieve a sustainable lifestyle. Items that many of us so often forget can literally be life-changing to some of our brothers and sisters.
We appreciate anyone who would like to donate shoes. Additionally, if you are interested in starting a shoe drive as a charity event through an organization in which you may be involved, we welcome your help and support. Together, the small acts of many can create wide-spread change. For more information, please feel free to call me, Christopher Patrick King, on my cell phone at 831-682-5647.
(Please note, while we fully expect that Shoes for the Homeless will have its application for non-profit status granted by the IRS, and while we have had our non-profit identification number issued, we are still awaiting final confirmation of approval from the IRS)
Christopher Patrick King is a leader of Shoes for the Homeless.
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