Column on Shoes for the Needy

For the first time in fifty years, the majority of American school children come from low-income homes. It infuriates me that the United States of America has a poverty rate so high that the International Monetary fund made suggestions for our economy that sounded as if we were part of the developing world.  In Alton, fairly recent data indicated that around 60% of students are in need by using the school lunch criterion.

This past week I was at the mall early, as I tried to avoid being run down by hordes of morning walkers. A group of people gathered at Famous Footwear. No, they were not part of the Al Bundy Fan Club. There, volunteers from Rotary, the police, and other service groups were there to help 2 sets of children pick out a pair of shoes. Bell Telephone employees bought shoes for children in the late sixties, when utility workers noticed children heading home without shoes. Atlantis Pools has kept up the program. All God’s Children Shall Have Shoes is a charitable organization that gathers support for this program. Last year almost one thousand area children received shoes.

One boy asked for Nike shoes. He then asked me if old people knew about Nike shoes. I told him that I asked people who wore Nike shoes to get off my lawn. Patiently, people helped children select and check if the shoes fit well. Then, the children received a batch of socks from gracious employees. A truly kindly man gave cookies to the kids as they filed out to wait with their teachers, as the students clutched their bags.

My mother was a Depression era child and teen, and I heard stories of children wearing two different shoes and two left shoes to school. Cardboard helped keep shoes going if the uppers were still good. Sometimes one flopped about in shoes several sizes too big, and the children were told: it’s for your growth. When I was growing up, children were often told to wrap plastic bags around their feet to “waterproof” their shoes. I suppose a lack of proper footwear is a symbol of poverty in my mind.

Charity ennobles the giver, but it rarely gives a sense of respect to the receiver. I am thrilled when basic human needs are met. I hate that we are creating a generation of young people too dependent on spasms of charity to make it through.

At this time of year, I often read Christmas stories. I always go back to Christmas Carol by Dickens and the movies based on that work. Scrooge would fit well in 2016. He is consumed by the accumulation of money. He blames the poor for their plight and does not want to enable their stress on scarce resources. A series of visions gives him a new perspective on his past, the present of the family of his abused employee, and a dim view of his future. He is transformed and gives from a “glad and generous heart.” So many Christmas stories use poverty as a template and then some sort of surprise gift that lightens the burden of a family.

We all have big shoes to fill. We need an economy in this area that will not consign so many children to poverty. We bring children into the world who are guaranteed to be vulnerable to deprivation in too many ways. This season melts the coldest of hearts and opens th3e tightest of fists to give to those in need. For our community the great Christmas gift would be a concerted effort at expanding and creating job opportunities in any sector that could provide stable employment opportunity. In the meantime, may Christmas be a bit easier for all those struggling under terrible burdens, as we offer helping hands.