Shoes That Fit At CCCO

I volunteered with over 50 members of my church and over 200 total volunteers for the 12th annual Shoes That Fit event at L.A. Central City Community Outreach (CCCO)(6th and San Pedro) on Tuesday November 23rd. Shoes That Fit is held every year around Thanksgiving by CCCO, which is a Christian non-profit dedicated to serving the homeless or under-privileged in Los Angeles' Skid Row including an after-school program for children with mentoring. For this event, they provided shoes, clothing, entertainment, a quick meal of hot dogs and snacks plus boxed groceries for a Thanksgiving meal for the children and their families.

We started the event with a group prayer for all the volunteers where we sincerely asked for God's Holy Spirit presence so that we could do His work for the event then we were off. I was on face painting and entertainment duties outside and I met and greeted as much children and parents in line as I could. I spoke my version of Spanish and joked or sang with them until everyone smiled. My heart broke many times as the line was very long and it was so cold and blustery outside (made even worst by the wind-chill factor). Sadly, most of the kids were not dressed warm enough to be out in the elements but their parents were so desperate to get them some shoes, clothing and a meal that only 2 families actually left out of the hundreds in line.

The sun left at about 4:00 pm too so it got even colder and I had to keep running inside to search the donated bins for blankets and scarfs for the babies, kids and even for some moms who were outside. I also used the time inside searching for clothing to warm up my body and to warm up my heart and spirit through prayer and supplication to the Lord for the homeless and needy throngs outside. Although I have worked with kids and families in similar situations before, L.A. has the worst homeless situation I have ever seen ,and with the down economy, the problem just seems to be growing.

Still it was a very up-lifting event as every child left smiling and styling as they sported their new shoes, fly hoodies, princess or spider-man face paint and their plate full of goodies. I even got a few hugs from the pint-sized blessings! It really makes me reflect though on what being thankful and Christian service to the needy is really about and what God 's word has to say about it.

John 21:15 American International Translation

After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," Peter replied, "you know I love you." "Then feed my lambs (spiritual babes)," Jesus told him.

I hope we did just that!

Learn more about L.A. Central City at www.lacentralcity.org and see video from the event at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7807067