People in Need Get Food and Shoes

Allan and I have visited many homeless shelters were people come for meals and then get a hot shower and clean beds to sleep on. Last night we had the unique experience of distributing shoes with the Fill A Belly program in Carlsbad and Encinitas, California. Their program, started by two sisters who saw a need to feed the homeless, is run by volunteers in two locations on Tuesday nights. The first location served dinner in a cozy church meeting room. Our friend Dick came along and immediately got involved making sure everyone had the right size shoe. People warmed up to his outgoing personality.
The second location was a completely different experience. Meals are served under a park gazebo. That’s fine on a summer night, but in our case, it was bitter cold, rainy and windy. The tables under the gazebo were wet and the people coming for meals had sopping wet shoes and pant legs. Many showed us the holes in their soles. As we gave them new shoes, we saw most had dripping wet socks. My long-time friend and partner-in-getting-in-trouble, Sandy, raced to the store and returned with packages of new, dry socks. When we found more people with wet socks, I raced to the RV and returned with clean, dry socks from Allan’s sock drawer. After a delicious meal, the men and women thanked us and said good bye. Then they wandered off in the rain, to find a dry area under a tree or bridge. At least we knew their stomach was full and feet were dry.

We Met Some Amazing Young Adults!

Most of us have seen print or TV ads explaining the need for foster parents. We envision what it would be like to take in a cute, cuddly three year old and give them the stability and love they need. In reality, many foster children stay in group homes because there are not enough qualified foster families to provide a loving home. Even worse is what happens when teens “age out” of the foster care system. Many of these 18-year-olds find themselves cut off from any help as they leave the official foster care system. That’s where Open Horizons enters the picture in San Diego. They work with 18-24 year old former foster children, to help them find jobs, housing and further their education. We met some of these great kids as we brought by new shoes for them. One young man said he was looking for a job in construction and shyly asked if we had any steel toed boots. We did! Another young man proudly told us he had just gotten a job…with the district attorney no less! Hopefully we helped a tiny bit in helping these amazing young adults gain independence and live a happy life. They certainly deserve it.