We did it again! Kim Foot Foundation collected over 3,500 pairs of shoes this year, and we are highly grateful for all the help and contributions from all our patients, volunteers, and charities.
About our 22nd Annual Shoe Drive:
We donated to:
During the mission trip, Dr. Kim was with kids from Tijuana. An awesome party with generous people, many donations, fun games, and delicious food. How else could I describe our 19th Annual Shoe Drive celebration in Long Beach? We collected thousands of shoes for those in need.
A big thank you to all 100 locations and everyone kind enough to take the time to contribute this year! The charity event couldn’t have happened without my wonderful TEAM. I’m happy to say that we are one step closer to reaching our goal of one day seeing a world without shoeless people. Over the course of these 19 years, we have collected almost 100,000 pairs of shoes. And we’re not stopping there. Do you have gently used shoes in your closet or garage, and do not know what to do with them? Let’s help shoeless kids and adults in Long Beach and Mexico.
“I make a mission trip to Tijuana each year to volunteer. One time when I was there, I met a 6-year-old boy named Jose. Jose had no parents, and he had worn holes through the bottom of his shoes. Sadly, this is the case with many children in Tijuana.
Some have no parents at all, and some have parents who are working in America to try to make money for their families. Whatever the situation may be, the kids are all in desperate need of new shoes and are overjoyed when we give them a pair of the shoes we collected. This is what keeps me coming back each year.” Said Dr. S. Don Kim, who first started the Shoe Drive in Long Beach twenty years ago. Also, the Kim Holistic Foot & Ankle Center was donating thousands of shoes tothe homeless in Long Beach for many years. “Four Saturdays a month, we offer a hot shower, clean clothing, amenities, and a meal to our homeless friends. We serve from 75-100 at the showers, plus some who come for clothing only. Shoes are very popular.
A big amount of gently used shoes we are getting from Dr. Kim’s Shoe Drive for over five years already,” says Gail, Outreach coordinator of Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church Shower Program. This year, Kim Holistic Foot & Ankle Center continues hosting the 20th Annual Shoe Drive. It’s one of the biggest shoe drives in Long Beach. “The idea was born in 1997 with a vision. While doing free podiatry care for the impoverished areas of Mexico, I noticed that many of the foot problems suffered by these patients could have been eliminated if they just had the proper protection — shoes!” Dr. S. Don Kim says. “So we are going strong and look forward for your donation.”
Thousands of People Now Have Shoes on Their Feet
It was another extremely successful year for the 12th Annual Kim Foot and Ankle Centers Shoe Drive.
With all the help of our friends, families, patients, and local businesses, we were able to collect over 10,000 pairs of shoes! Because of all the hard work from everyone, we decided to celebrate Mardi Gras style. Everyone who entered our office had the pleasure of being draped with beads, wigs, and hats of various styles.
On August 12th, before our local charities came to pick up their shoes, we were all treated to a wonderful free lunch that was donated by our gracious vendors, Rebecca, Michael, Sonny, Lauren, and Chris. We were treated to some delicious food from Fortune Cookie while we were entertained by music and conversation.
After our meal, we all gathered outside around a huge mountain of shoes! Dr. Kim discussed his passion for this project, which he has been doing for 12 years. We were also able to meet local businesses that helped with our success. At the end of the presentation, we met all the local charities that will be taking our donated shoes to give to those who are in extreme need of them.
A special thank you to all participants and to the charities for keeping this program alive and kicking every year. It gives us all a great feeling to know we are helping many people of all ages to have shoes on their feet. We look forward to making next year even more successful.
We would like to recognize all the wonderful, caring facilities and people who had boxes at their locations to collect shoes. We also had many people who volunteered to drive and pick up shoes from these locations and drop them off with us. Without all of you, the shoe drive wouldn’t have been so successful!
We also want to thank our local charities that came to pick up our collected shoes to give out to those in need. Year after year, these charities continue to give to the community by placing shoes on adults' and children’s feet.
Another successful year for the Kim Foot and Ankle Center’s Annual Shoe Drive! For our 11th year, we managed to collect over 8,000 shoes! We could not have done this without all the wonderful donations from our patients, friends, family, and our generous drop-off sites. To kick off our shoe donation, we had a special Donation Celebration, Hawaiian Style!
We decorated our office for a luau; our staff wore Hawaiian print scrubs and Hawaiian shirts, everyone received and wore leis; we had Hawaiian music playing inside and outside of our office. Our staff served wonderful Hawaiian food and desserts to everyone in attendance.
It was a perfect day filled with sunshine, smiles, shoes, and success. After a wonderful meal and a few words from Dr. Kim and our sponsors, we all got together to capture the event! Thank you all for attending! A special thank you goes out to all offices that volunteered to have a box at their residence or place of business. Without you, we would never have had the great success! Thank you again!
Several charities were on hand to collect shoes. A special thank you to all of you who collected shoes for men, women, and children.
In 2007, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary of the Shoe Drive. At the Foot Festival, we also enjoyed a Health Fair with many of our Shoe Drive Sponsors hosting information booths from Chiropractic care to Massage Therapy to Acupuncture. We even had Tai Chi demonstrations!
For three months, the Shoe Drive Team makes weekly trips to our sponsors to collect the shoes donated. Sometimes we visit our sponsors several times a week to collect shoes! We collect shoes until our storage unit is filled to the ceiling!
1997
Our 1st Shoe Drive, we collected 5,000 pairs of shoes to go to Mexico! We have since grown to collect over 10,000 pairs of shoes each year. Half of the shoes collected now are distributed among our local charities, and the other half are taken down to Mexico.
