Thirteen members of Kettering Health’s Therapy and Sports Medicine team recently volunteered with Shoes 4 the Shoeless (S4TS) to help fit 136 children with new, properly sized shoes and socks.
The event served students from kindergarten through fourth grade at Virginia Stevenson Elementary School in Riverside. It was part of an ongoing partnership between the organization and the Therapy and Sports Medicine team, which started about five years ago.
Shoes 4 the Shoeless is a southwest Ohio nonprofit that provides new, correctly fitting gym shoes and socks to children in desperate need. The organization estimates that at least 72,000 children in its service area lack proper footwear. Since its founding in 2010, it has served more than 200,000 children through what it describes as an efficient, high‑volume distribution model designed to eliminate one of poverty’s most visible stigmas.
“These kids, they light up,” said Elise Hickernell, a physical therapist with the Huber Heights Therapy and Sports Medicine team who helped develop the relationship with S4TS. “They’re so grateful to you and so thankful.”
Volunteers met individually with each child, helping remove worn shoes, talking with them about their preferences, and offering two pairs of new shoes. The choice is a standard part of the Shoes 4 the Shoeless model, intended to give children dignity and ownership in the process.
“We sit down at the feet of these children,” Hickernell said. “Here we actually get to be the true hands and feet of Christ.”
The experience aligns with Kettering Health’s mission to live God’s love by promoting and restoring health. For the therapists, proper footwear is directly connected to the work they do every day.
“In our career, we work with people, helping them improve their ankle strength and range of motion in order to improve their ability to walk, jump, and run,” said Kristine Flais, another volunteer who works as a physical therapist with the Far Hills Therapy and Sports Medicine team. “When we volunteer for S4S, we are working with children who need shoes. They need socks and shoes to be able to walk, run, jump, play, and just be a kid. So, this program feeds so nicely into what we do as physical therapists.”
Flais said the event also offers perspective.
“When I volunteer, I feel like I always get more out of volunteering than what I give,” she said. “It brings me back to a place of reality, I remember to not take it for granted that I have shoes and socks. So this experience is very meaningful for me, I am so thankful that I can give back to others and assist in providing this need.”
Hickernell and Flais described the event as meaningful and unifying.
“It’s fun to see people outside of work, and we’re all working for a common cause,” Flais said. “Everybody leaves happier than they went in.”
S4TS relies on volunteers, sock donations, and financial contributions. The nonprofit accepts donations through its website.
“We’re so thankful that we get the opportunity to do this and that we have leadership that wants us to pursue these types of activities and experiences,” Flais said.
Besides Hickernell and Falis, Kettering Health volunteers included Melissa Radlowski, Amanda Elias, Mindy Hoying, Jacqueline Long, Chelsea Lauck, Deb Goffinett, Julia Ward, Sherri Bailey, Christina Berry, Kendra Richter, and Greg Hoying, a community volunteer.
