Footcare Event a Success for Homeless Solutions

Hats off (or, shoes on) to , which conducted a footcare and shoe donation event on Nov. 22 at its Morris Township facility.

The press release is below:

Last night was an extraordinary night at the Homeless Solutions, Inc. (HSI) shelter in Morris Township. The shelter can house 85 people so there’s always a lot going on – guests arriving back from work, volunteers cooking dinner, and parents helping children with homework. Last night, though, was particularly hectic.

Dr. Michael Goldberger, a podiatrist affiliated with , organized a footcare event for HSI shelter and transitional housing guests. The event took weeks of planning, working closely with HSI Volunteer Coordinator Tamala Reynolds, Ted Wickner, owner of Jay’s Shoebox in Livingston, and the non-profit organizations Soles 4 Souls and Hearts to Souls. The concept was that HSI guests would receive a foot exam and treatment of minor issues from Goldberger and other volunteers he recruited. There would also be free shoes available.

Last night was the big night – the second floor of the shelter was set up with a children’s area, stocked with shoes donated by Jay’s Shoebox, an adult area with shoes donated through Soles 4 Souls and Hearts to Souls, and an exam area. A large group of foot-care professionals, including nurses, physician’s assistants, and professional shoe fitters were on hand providing foot exams and care to over 70 guests.

The exam area and shoe fitting rooms were bustling, and there were lots of happy moments – the wide smile one guest flashed when he was told that there were shoes in his size, the eager squeals as the children saw all of the boxes of shoes, and the genuine concern shown by the foot-care staff during the exams. Perhaps nothing captured the spirit of the event, though, more than the amazement in that third grader’s eyes when she realized that the cool sneakers she’d been given were hers to keep – and wear to school the next day. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that!

Kudos to this dedicated and generous group of people who came out to the HSI shelter to provide support for soles - at the same time, they also offered encouragement for souls.