Our first ever “Get Your Kicks” event in Philly! We were able to bring over 75 pairs of brand new shoes, donated by Carl’s Shoes, to the homeless in Philadelphia. We brought along hygiene kits filled with toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, mouth wash, deodorant, hand sanitizer, chapstick, lotion, a comb, feminine products, and nail clippers. We also included socks and blankets too!
For those of you that know me, you know that I like organization. I had this idea in my head that we would arrive at Love Park, set up the table, organize the shoes by size and color, and have the other items laid out just right. I imagined an orderly line of people coming up for shoes and being able to pray over the people and the shoes as they left. Let me just tell you- this is not, at all, how it went down. I don’t even think the table was upright before we were surrounded by people asking for shoes in all different sizes. By the time I had taken all of the other items out of their bins the shoes were gone! Fortunately, we did have some more in the truck so when Matt pulled around the crowd migrated towards the truck and the entire event was complete in about 40 minutes. Most of my time was spent rummaging through shoe boxes, looking for sizes, and handing them out over my head. Not exactly what I had envisioned, but it was perfect. We had some great interactions and opportunities for prayer. We were well received and able to bring some light to a dark world.
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