Caring For the Feet Is No Small Feat

by Steven Samra · 2009-11-29 13:26:00 UTC
Topics:

The primary mode of transportation for folks experiencing homelessness is shoe leather.  I recently spent a 3-day 40 hour weekend on my feet working for an Operation Stand Down event and remember clearly that by the end of each day, my ole dogs were barkin, sore, and ready for some 4-wheel relief as I drove home.

But none of the guys who attended that event had such luck; those that participated for the day but chose not to sleep over spent just as much time on their feet as I did, yet they still had a good walk in front of them to get to a place they could lay their heads without fear of hassle, arrest or attack.

Several years ago, I put together a map that illustrated the distances folks had to travel in Nashville to receive services and calculated that in a single day, to eat, take a shower and find a place inside to sleep, the average person would have to walk almost ten miles.

That's 70 miles a week, 3,640 miles a year.  That's akin to walking from Los Angeles to just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia each year!

Given the typically poor nutritious quality of most of the foods served to the homeless and the lack of medical care they receive, it's a wonder they can walk across the block, let alone across the country.

Clearly, the need for decent footwear for those on the street cannot be overstated, yet many of our less fortunate brothers and sisters are walking around with shoes that are ill-fitting and/or worn out, and many must endure those shoes without the comfort of socks to cushion the bone-crushing impact of the approximately 2100 footsteps they must take for each mile walked.

The B-Love Foundation, Soles 4 Souls and a number of other groups have worked diligently to assist people on the street with clean fresh socks and decent footwear.  As we enter the holiday season this year, why not consider donating to an organization that helps put socks and shoes on the feet of the homeless?  It's a gift that will bring many hours of pleasure to someone and the cost is nominal, not to mention tax deductible.

Image: Angelina:)

Steven Samra is a veteran's services coordinator with Operation Stand Down Nashville and a recovery specialist for the Center for Social Innovation. He is a formerly homeless person.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Ohio's Homeless Could be State's 7th Largest City
NEXT STORY:
Sallie Mae Blinks!

COMMENTS (5)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.