Shoes, Socks, & Water

Most needed items on for those living on the streets

I have read many articles and seen many ads for socks for the homeless. Some may think why do they need so many socks? Well, I will tell you a few good reasons. Walking everywhere you need to go for services, or a safe place to hide/sleep puts wear and tear on your feet and whatever you have them wrapped in. More often than not it’s ill fitting shoes and worn out socks that are the wrappers for your mode of transportation. You can’t carry around a bag of dirty socks to wash at the laundry mat. Mostly because a lot of laundry mats won’t let homeless people in for one thing and the other is money for wash, detergent, softener, bleach, dryer sheets. How is one expected to purchase and carry these things around with them while looking for housing, a job or other homeless related services.

So the socks get tossed when a new pair comes along and shoes, well those are worn till the holes just take over. That is if you can find a pair of shoes that fit. The most difficult to help are the men who wear size 13, 14 or even 15 shoes. They rarely get donated to programs that distribute shoes. Women who wear size 9, 10 etc also have a hard time finding a good fitting shoe.

Ive seen men wearing flip flops in January because they can’t find a shoe that fits them. As reported on Cronkite News, ill fitting shoes is often mistaken for drunkeness or being high because the person is limping or walking at an odd angle. People assume when they see a homeless person walking down the street wobbling that they are high when the real problem is that their feet hurt.

There are many organizations that distribute clothing, shoes, sox, and other neccessities to the homeless but they are few and far between. When there are special events, (like a church give away) it’s difficult to get the word out as most homeless people don’t watch the news or read the newspaper. Distribution is an issue, but there are a few places I have found that do offer free clothing/shoes and other services. If you are in that special shoe size category, you would be wise to ask as many different places as possible if they could help you find a pair of shoes in your rare sizes. Most of these programs if not all are donation based. Meaning when someone is cleaning out their closet they often donate to one of these programs. This keeps most donations of an average size and do not accomodate the many outliers with other than average needs.

Shoe/Clothing Give Aways

St. Vincent De Paul

I am familiar with a few of them. The first is St. Vincent De Paul, they have a facility in downtown Phoenix -320 Watkins Street – that offers showers (with all the hygiene neccessities) and a change of clothes and shoes if they have them 7 days a week from 7:30am to 6pm. And Yes, that is a terriffic service, but what if you reside in West Phoenix, or West Valley for that matter? 320 Watkins street is not really easy to get to from 35th and Peoria although with all the other services available down there, it could certainly be worth the expedition.

St. Vincent De Paul Resource Center 213 S 11th Ave Phoenix, AZ 85007 (602) 255-0580

Vineyard Church

Closer to the West Valley/West Phoenix area is Vineyard Church and they also offer a food and clothing bank 7 days a week at 63rd Avenue and Peoria. They have morning hours at 9am on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and evening hours on the other days, 7pm Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. But here’s the catch with that one….Their website says “When you arrive, drive to the end of the “waiting vehicle line” by the Compassion Building. Stay in your vehicle. You’ll be asked to fill out a questionnaire.” There is no information about what to do if you don’t have a vehicle. I can only assume that they also take walk-ups but I am not sure and it’s not a given. Many places, even those whose purpose is to serve the homeless, do not want homeless people walking in their doors or congregating outside their facilities. So I would suggest call first. I will update this article when I am able to verify their walk up policy. For more information contact Paul Vandernaalt Email or call at 623.934.4000

Andre’ House

Andre House, also Downtown Phoenix, has a clothing distribution service in addition to their many other unique and badly needed services. They offer a place to make a phone call, (like the one that might get back to a home,) They give away Blankets, they have a Laundry service where you drop it off and return to pick up folded clean clothes in a bag. Keep your eyes out for a complete article on who they are and what they have to offer and how to navigate their services.

Clothing Closet at Andre House Distributes free used clothing to adults who are homeless and poor. All services are provided at 213 S. 11th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85007 Lines begin forming at 60 minutes before start of service. André House is closed on Fridays. For more information, call: 602-252-9023 This is really close to CASS so it’s very crowded and there are already a lot of people there that have been there before and know how things work. Don’t be afraid to ask. They really do help quite a few people every day, you just gotta know who to go to and at what time to get the help required.

www.Andrehouse.org

Community Resource Center

Community Resource Center (statewide) looks like they also offer clothing but no specific mention of shoes and they have a few locations around the valley and the state. It looks like they offer food as well as Snap services to get you signed up for EBT Nutrition Assistance plus clothing, hygiene and a job center. Here’s a few of their close by locations but they also serve Yuma and Tucson.

• Phoenix Office 2632 W. Augusta Ave.
  Phoenix, AZ 85051
  (602) 346-2300M8:30am–12:30pmT12:30pm–4:30pm

• Casa de Amor819 S. MacDonald
  Mesa, AZ 85210
  (480) 464-2877M9am–12pmT9am–12pmW9am–12pm

• Resource Center, First Baptist Church Apache Junction235 S. Thunderbird Dr.
  Apache Junction, AZ 85120
  (480) 982-2155W9am–12pm

• Rio Vista Center1431 E. Southern Ave.
  Phoenix, AZ 85040
  (480) 258-4155T9am–12pmW9am–12pmT9am–12pm

And it looks like the last one on this list is Harvest Compassion Center, part of the Mitchell Swaback minitstries. Their website says:

Harvest