For Melissa Christopher a project for a leadership training class turned into a community wide volunteer effort and hundreds of needy people in Chattanooga receiving shoes.
"I never would have thought I’d be able to do this. It's the first time I’ve done anything like it in my life;” she said about her one day shoe drive at the Community Kitchen on Saturday.
She said her toughest challenge was to ask people she barely knew for help.
"It's easy to ask friends and family. That gives you about 10 people, but that wasn’t enough for something this big. I had to ask 50 people to get 30 volunteers,” she said.
She also collected 1,600 pairs of shoes and received donated food from stores such as Bi-Lo and Out of the Blue Bakery Cafe. Cleaning supplies were donated by Target and a local hosiery company donated boxes of socks.
By the time she started distributing shoes at 5 a.m. Saturday 30 people stood in line waiting for her to open the door. She gave away 50 pairs of shoes within the first hour.
Ms. Christopher said the project came about through an assignment for a Landmark Education leadership training class she was taking in Atlanta.
Her most memorable donation was to a 4 or 5-year old girl who walked in during the cool morning low temperatures wearing house shoes with two wide holes in each shoe. When the girl found shoes she could wear, she gave her worn out shoes to Ms. Christopher.
“When I saw those shoes, it really emphasized the need for this project and it assured me I was doing the right thing” she said.
She said 14,000 people, including 4,000 children, were homeless in Chattanooga in 2000, according to the Interfaith Hospitality Network.
Shoes were laid out in neat rows on the floor and across about a dozen tables at the Community Kitchen. Some of them had popular brand names like Bass, Reebok, Naturalizer, Nike, and Nine West.
"Do you have any kids shoes? Boys size 6 and 11-1/2?" asked Linda Morgan, who hoped to find shoes for her sons.
By the time she walked to the back of the building, volunteers Emerie Franks and Deanna Ray had already laid out six pairs of size 6 shoes for Ms. Morgan.
Joyce Dagley got two pair of sandals. “Summer will be here.” she said.
By mid-afternoon, Ms. Christopher had distributed more than 500 pairs of shoes. The remaining shoes will be put in the Community Kitchen's thrift store, she said.
“A lot of people need them,” said volunteer Craig Carruthers. "A lot of people wear the shoes they have until they wear out."
Chattanoogans are requested to "Take a Giant Step” to solve a problem of the homeless. The Community Kitchen has a drive under way to collect adult and children’s shoes to be given to the homeless and indigent.
Donations of new or gently used shoes may be dropped off at the Sports Barn, Rock Creek Outfitters and the Sports Authority through today. Shoes will be given out to anyone in need on Saturday, March 10, from noon until 5pm at the Community Kitchen.
