When the shoe fits

In 2023, Soles4Souls increased its support, supplying the camp and clinic with 500 pairs of shoes and 1,050 pairs of socks. Late last year, Turner and her husband had a tour of the clinic with Stanarevic and Miller. The site visit helped Turner better understand the scope of the hospital and its needs.

“When you are able to go on site, conversations can happen more easily. You understand even more of what they’re doing and can see their capacity,” Turner said. “It’s not uncommon for me with any of our partners, if there’s a donation opportunity that comes up somewhere that might be a good fit, I will reach out and ask, is this something you’d want? Is this is something you’d need?” This happens more naturally after she’s seen up close how an organization functions. “Because we never, ever want to add to the problem at all…We try to be as intentional as possible with what we’re doing and our partnerships.”

This year’s 4EveryKid donations, given solely to children experiencing homelessness, include 1,000 shoes and 1,000 pairs of socks for distribution in the clinic, as well as 500 hoodies that should arrive soon. A shoe shipment later in the year will support the camp again as well as the clinic’s annual Candy Cane Lane event, where families are offered an array of new winter gear, clothing, and sleepwear, and children can also select toys for the holidays.

Of her visit to The Floating Hospital, Turner said she was struck by “the sense of community with the staff. You can really feel it. When you’ve been in enough places that are doing this type of work, you can feel when there is a cohesive community working together.” She was also touched after witnessing the care given to the families that were being served that day.

Then she met Ernesto Hart, The Floating Hospital’s Dental Manager, who told her about the clinic’s reconstructive dental services. “That really touched me, because at our organization we are all about how do we dignify an individual with a donation,” she said. “We want to provide a need and a want. We want people to feel proud of what they have, and we want that to be part, hopefully, of their path shifting.”

Noting that much of the clothing the clinic receives is second-hand, Miller said “it’s rare to get donations of that size that are brand new.” And they are from brands like Puma and Reebok, “names that people recognize and they’re not ashamed to wear at school.”

Soles4Souls sends enough pairs that Miller and the education team can set up the classroom like a shoe store with the sneakers sorted by size. The kids “sit down, try them on, walk around, look in the mirror. They really get their choice. Poor people in temporary housing don’t often have that experience.”

As far as Turner is concerned, “we couldn’t do this work without partners, like the Floating Hospital. We don’t do what The Floating Hospital does, right? We don’t provide medical and dental care in New York City to underserved populations. They don’t do what we do.”

“The beauty of partnerships is when we can come alongside each other with our resources and just basically collaborate to make sure that they have things that they can add on to their programs that serve their clients. And we in turn, are continuing to broaden our network and our reach of service,” she said. “We can’t do it without the partnerships. Everybody says this, but it really is true. It takes a village of people doing this work.”