Shoes 4 the Shoeless

If you follow our story, you know we see thousands of children wearing shoes that are not fit to wear, like the one in this picture. The other shoe was even worse. We have learned to use a lot of grace as we think about the caregivers of children like this. Most are struggling with overwhelming issues and more obstacles than you can imagine. They do their best with what they have to work with and love their children. It breaks their hearts that their children go without basics. A common response to seeing shoes like this is to wonder why the caregivers did not go to a church, a clothing pantry, or the Goodwill for shoes. Or to question why the family did not ask neighbors, friends, or family members for hand-me-downs. There are many legitimate reasons why, most of the time, those are not good solutions. This shoe actually came from a clothing pantry. It was in this shape when the child received it. It was also several sizes too large, but that was all that was available. This child had worn this shoe in this condition for three years. Because of the disconnected sole, this child could not run or walk normally. His feet were cold and soaking wet in poor weather. Supporting these children and their families is a privilege. We have several families who, despite their own struggles, generously donate as much as they can each month to help other children like theirs. Their contributions make a significant impact, providing many children with a great pair of shoes and socks that fit! We love our mission and those we serve. Stay with us, please. #webringrelief

We love the children we serve and our diverse partnerships that make it all possible. Each quarter, we are joined by nursing students from Cedarville University , Wright State University and Sinclair Community College. They fulfill clinical hours while experiencing a bit of what public health nursing looks like! They learn to look for the invisible healthcare needs that often go unaddressed. We have a new partnership this year with the University of Cincinnati! Student teachers will be joining our volunteer teams beginning this Fall. For student teachers, working with us gives them a glimpse into the lives children lead outside school. It is vital for them to learn that there are many things they may have yet to consider that impact learning. These partnerships are possible because our mission and processes are focused on improving the health and well-being of children living in deep need. This, in turn, makes children better learners—in fact, it makes them better at everything. We have an exciting year ahead. Our hearts and eyes are set on the thousands of children on our schedule. Stay with us, please. #webringrelief

Partnerships, relationships, and collaboration keep our powerful mission running to the neediest children in southwest Ohio. One of our most important partnerships is in our Socks 4 Success program. We give away at least 100,000 pairs of socks each year. Yes, you read that right—100,000. We see countless children each year who do not own even one pair or the socks they own are full of holes and threadbare. These children are miserable in cold, wet weather—we all know that feeling. We give those children several pairs of brand-new, warm, and cozy socks. The socks are as valuable as the shoes. Before this is possible, thousands of socks must be gathered and sorted. They must be removed from packages, tags, and plastic removed from each pair and then put in gender—and size-specific bins in preparation for being loaded into our trucks. This process must be repeated every week. This would be impossible without the work of two of our favorite partners, URS: United Rehabilitation Services and Kettering Fairmont Transitional Program. These groups come to our office each week, doing the work it takes to bring relief in the form of brand-new socks to thousands of children each year. We could not do it without them. Our staff and volunteer teams have the best seats in the house when it comes to seeing the goodness of people and experiencing the transformative power of serving. We bring relief. Stay with us, please.

Over the years, we have developed strategic partnerships with three communities we do not reach during the school year. These are groups of children who live with the deepest of needs and are routinely under-served by any and all organizations. Last night was a reminder of our "why." Like every year, we helped children who were literally barefoot. The shoes they wore during the school year were no longer wearable (which is saying a lot). Looking closely at this picture, you will see the wounds on her feet. The bottoms of her feet were even worse. Her grandmother said she had to do the same thing as a child, and her feet looked even worse. We also saw many of the children we see every year at this location. Without us, they would not have access to shoes, and they were wearing what we gave them last year. When you only own one pair of shoes, they wear out quickly. Soles wear through, fabric stretches and comes apart, leaving holes, and they are usually 2-3 sizes too small now. Our shoes/socks are a tremendous gift to the children we serve. But, an equally greater gift is our presence. For many children, just being in the presence of a caring adult is powerful. One of the young girls we served confided through many tears that she had been homeless for years. Couch hopping or car hopping with her grandmother. She told a sadly predictable story of a lifetime of neglect and abuse with no end in sight. All the proper authorities have been involved for a long time, but help does not always come quickly or efficiently. Sometimes, it does not come at all. She said her biggest needs were shoes/socks, clothes, and school supplies. She left with two pairs of shoes, a bag of pretty socks, and all the school supplies she needed. She made a "wish list" of clothing items that will be purchased by a local church group, and delivered to her very quickly. We cannot fix most of the problems these children face, but the ones we do fix make a tremendous impact. Our eyes and hearts are set on once again reaching MANY THOUSANDS of area children this year. In fact, we have set our goal higher than ever before. Please stay with us. Bringing relief is a privilege.

*Social Media Takeover* By John Forde, your S4TS Greater Cincinnati Area Director Sneaker Enthusiast | Educator | Child Advocate If you know me then you know the first thing that I’m going to do is say thank you! This past year has been so amazing as I have stepped into this new role with S4TS. I’ve had the privilege of traveling all over Ohio to serve children in need and along the way I’ve seen both amazing and heartbreaking things. Everything from the amazing people who volunteer to the children that I’ve witnessed walk into a gym with terrible shoes and severely damaged feet. Throughout this whole year, there have been so many new and different experiences but there have always been two constants. 1. Contrary to popular belief, people are loving, kind, and generous. 2. There are children in desperate need of care across Ohio especially here in Cincinnati Thanks to your incredible generosity and support, Shoes 4 The Shoeless had an amazing school year! We are thrilled to share that, together, we provided brand-new shoes and socks to over 3,500 children in the Greater Cincinnati Area across 11 deliveries. But we’re not stopping there! This upcoming school year, we are expanding our reach to 22 schools in Greater Cincinnati! Your contributions of time and finances make this possible, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you for making a difference in so many young lives. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to grow and serve our community! #Shoes4TheShoeless #CommunitySupport #Cincinnati #KidsInNeed #ThankYou #GivingBack

We have always been aware of the children's suffering; this is what drives us. We have always seen that far more children need us than we can schedule. This drives us to aim for continual, sustainable, and controlled growth each year. As we step into July, our schedule for 2024-2025 is set. While it looks great on paper, we know it will take an even larger army of volunteers and donors than ever before. Since 2010, we have seen our community rally around our organization and the children we love and serve. We have all the confidence in the world that will continue, so we are excited about what lies ahead. We will sprint a marathon starting in August. For now, we are just sprinting. Already this summer, we have provided shoes and socks to large groups of children experiencing the significant trauma of homelessness. We have served children whose lives have only seen violence, neglect, and abuse. We have put shoes and socks on the feet of children dealing with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses. All these children are attending summer camps, happily wearing our shoes and socks. With our help, they are fully and comfortably included in physical activities like running, biking, and hiking. These are the beautiful things all children should be doing in the summertime. There is much more to come, and we will offer you great ways to be a part of this delightful journey. Bringing relief is a privilege. Stay tuned, please!

We do a great job providing children with quality, brand-new gym shoes and socks. We do an EXCELLENT job recruiting the right kind of volunteers. That is actually easy because our communities overflow with loving, kind, and caring people who will sacrifice their time and dollars to help. Our volunteers get on the floor in front of the children, help them take off their shoes and socks, measure their feet, and then help them try on new shoes. That is how we know the shoes actually fit and the children like them. This process sounds simple, but it can take much patience and time. Children are often filled with shame and do not want anyone to see their damaged or dirty feet. They also do not want anyone to see the state of their shoes. It is embarrassing. Some children have never gotten the chance to choose their shoes, so they have trouble deciding what they like. Others insist they want shoes that do not fit because that is all they have ever known, or they share shoes with others in their home. Many things happen during the volunteer-child interaction. But the most important thing that happens is our volunteers shower children with kindness, attention, and compassion. Children from all demographics are starving for these things, especially those living with deep needs. Compelling data shows that even just one short interaction filled with kindness between an adult and a child can change the trajectory of a child's day, week, month, or life. These interactions have great power for good. We have a front-row seat to thousands of such interactions every week, and we do not take this for granted. If you are part of our volunteer team, we can never thank you enough. What you do matters more than you know. We bring relief.

We began in 2010 with hearts full of compassion and a powerful drive to solve one of the biggest, overlooked needs of children living in deep need: a pair of shoes that fit and were fit to wear. All we knew at the time was the needs were huge, and the children were suffering. We did not know exactly how to begin, so with help from the University of Dayton we looked at other organizations working in this space across the country. We made our first mistake by basing our process on what we found in our search. We made a trial run with 17 children in Dayton Public Schools. Like the other organizations we researched, we asked a school contact to gather sizes for a group of children in need of shoes. We then bought those shoes and delivered them to the school. It was a 100% failure. None fit. We quickly learned the obvious. Our goal was not to just say we were helping; our goal was to truly help. We knew then that feet must be measured correctly and shoes must be tried on. Otherwise, the whole process was pointless. Looking back it is incredulous we had to learn that the hard way. When we buy shoes for ourselves or our own children, we first have correct measurements, and then we try the shoes on. Within 48 hours of our first failure, we designed our own measuring device and implemented a whole new process. Thirteen years later, that process is still in place because it is the only one that works. Any other process lets many children down in a horribly sad way. Can you imagine a child needing and hoping for a new pair of shoes and then being given a pair that does not fit, with no replacement possible? Of course not. We replaced all of the first round of shoes that did not fit with shoes that did and started the wonderful journey of S4TS. We travel with at least 2,000 pairs of shoes from various brands. If we still don't have what a child needs, we have a process for special-ordering shoes. This process is hard work, and it requires dollars, supporters, and an army of caring volunteers to help, but it is worth it. The children in our community are all of our children, and they need us. As we gear up for the summer and the upcoming school year, we need more volunteers and funders. If you, your group, your business, or anyone you know would like more information on how to help, let us know! We would love to talk. You can reach us at [email protected] [email protected] Thank you! #bringrelief #easesufferng

We could take countless pictures just like this or worse every day because children suffering in these ways are all around us. They are our "why." Many children in this same building had never owned socks; they have had freezing cold, wet feet all winter. The majority were wearing shoes, many sizes too small or large that were not fit to wear anyway. Today, we solved tremendous problems for 377 children. What we all do together matters. Thank you for staying with us. #easesuffering #shoesthatfit

It is one thing when a little boy's feet look like this from playing outside on warm, sunny, beautiful days. This represents a lot of great and fun things. That was not the case here. His feet looked like this because his only pair of shoes and socks were filthy and full of holes. This represents a lot of sad and hard things. Kids know their feet look like this, and they are well aware of the odor. Even if they weren't, plenty of others around them would let them know.They are embarrassed. These are the kids who don't want to take their shoes off. They would rather leave without new shoes and socks than let anyone see. Shame is hard to shake off for a child. Fortunately, we have a few tricks to make it work! You would be amazed at the power a brand-new pair of gym shoes and clean socks can have to transform a child's heart. Thank you so much to all who cheer us on and donate time and dollars. It means the world to the children we love and serve. Before you ask, yes, when appropriate, we take children to the school clinic and wash their feet. Not in this case, though. So many children were in this same predicament that we would have never gotten out of the clinic that day. Stay with us, please.