Glass Slipper Fit

Haiti, July 2010:
On a summer distribution trip to Haiti, we travelled outside of Port Au Prince in a small community hit badly by the earthquake. The distribution was at a church, the building had been leveled by the devastation, and a tarped roof and wooden benches now served as the church center. 300 people quickly piled in the small area when they had heard by word of mouth that shoes were being given away. I was in the corner during the distribution fitting children with shoes, their little hands using the top of my head as a way to balance as they were fitted for a new pair of shoes. With the language barrier, it was sometimes hard to figure out if the shoes were too big or small, but a big smile from each child definitely gave us the feedback, that “YES” they loved their new shoes. As the inventory was getting lower, I was fitting a young girl (probably about 11 or 12) and could not find a pair to fit her. She pointed to my slip-on Converse sneakers, letting me know that she liked them, and I figured it was worth a try. The thought went through my mind, but what will I wear? Wow, how selfish, when the thought that probably plagued this young girl’s mind was more like, “I hope I don’t step on anything sharp today and hurt my foot". I slipped my shoe off and onto her foot, and found that it was a glass slipper fit. Perfect. I handed her both of my shoes with a fullness in my heart that cannot be explained and watched her walk away with a huge smile, with her new treasure in her arms.
I found a pair of boys tennis shoes to wear that were too big for me. It was a great lesson I learned that day. One, in giving of even the clothing/shoes on my back, and two, what a challenge it is to walk around and live life in shoes that do not fit properly. My shoes were too big, and they hindered me from being 100% because I couldn’t walk as fast, they irritated my feet and took my mind off of what I was trying to accomplish because it held me back.

Great lesson learned.

Maybe you cannot go to Haiti...but you can give to Soles4Souls and help us continue to change lives...one pair of Converse sneakers at a time...