The interpersonal connections are what continue to make the event integral to this inter-generational ministry.
Over the last 23 years, the Seton Parish Youth Group has donated thousands of shoes to the children of Cranks Creek in Harlan County, Kentucky. Each fall, 50 of Seton’s youth, along with their chaperones, board a bus for the six-hour trip down to Cranks Creek. Upon arrival, they pass out shoes donated by parishioners to students in three of the county’s schools, from preschool to eighth grade.
“Cranks Creek was chosen because it was the site of a former Diocesan summer work camp through the Diocesan Youth Council in the early ’90s,” says Barbara Serrano, director of youth ministry and religious education at Seton Parish. “At the camp, the lack of shoes was observed, and the donation evolved from there.”
With more than 30 percent of its population living below the poverty line, Harlan County has languished in severe economic crisis ever since the decline of the coal mining industry. Many parents are unable to provide new shoes for their children.
“For many of the young people, these are the only pair of shoes they get a year,” Serrano says.
In preparation for the drive, parishioner Ted Harrison visits the three Harlan County schools to record measurements of each child’s shoe size to ensure they receive well-fitting shoes. From there, Tracey Middendorf and her father, Don Miller, have overseen the program since its inception, organize a “shoe sheet party,” where a group of the parish’s youth gather to fill out slips for the Harlan County children. Once each child’s shoe slip is recorded, they distribute them throughout the parish so that each family can select a child for which to buy shoes.
Serrano credits many parishioners with going above and beyond. “We have several families who buy multiple pairs of shoes; one woman picked up 13 shoe sheets so that she could buy a pair of shoes to represent each of her babies in heaven.”
“A large part is that each pair of shoes bought are for a specific child, so this is very personal for our community. It is a person-to-person ministry; the people on the trip take down the shoes and give them personally to the child.” - Barbara Serrano.
This yearly event is something people look forward to within the community. Payless Shoes has provided donations for the drive in the past and continues to offer parishioners a discount on shoes purchased for the program.
“As an inter-generational ministry, we have many different volunteers fill out the shoe sheets, from those who are older and homebound to the youth of the parish,” Serrano says.
On the morning of the trip, volunteers load the shoes onto a truck, donated by Byers Imports, and leave for Harlan County promptly after the 8 a.m. mass.
Once they arrive at the Harlan County schools, the volunteers distribute the shoes, along with two to three pairs of socks per child, and help each child try on their pair to ensure proper fitting. This year, Seton Parish collected 1,317 pairs of shoes and nearly 3,600 pairs of socks.
“For any student whose shoes do not fit, we take them to the gym and have a shoe store-type atmosphere where we go through other exchanges to find the perfect pair for the child,” Serrano says. “If we are not able to find the pair that fits just right with what we have, we have a team who remeasures and then goes to the closest Payless Shoe Store and exchanges or buys a pair that will fit.”
The interstate and interpersonal connections are what continue to make this event so integral to Seton Parish.
“A large part is that each pair of shoes bought are for a specific child, so this is very personal for our community. It is a person-to-person ministry; the people on the trip take down the shoes and give them personally to the child,” Serrano says. “For our larger community who do not go on the trip, even though they do not get to see the actual person, they are buying shoes for a specific child, and that means a lot.”
Seton Parish encourages its members to engage in the wide variety of offered service opportunities, from its Portsmouth Christmas Food Drive to serving meals to transitional residents through the Inter Faith Hospitality Network in Columbus.
“We are a pretty charity-driven parish,” says Serrano. “Regardless of whether those we serve attend mass, are Catholic or are even Christian.”
Despite help from companies like Byers Imports, Payless and Cardinal Transportation, there are still major obstacles in putting together the drive each year, including the number of funds available to cover expenses.
“Our parish donates money for the expenses, which includes bus transportation and shoes, and they also provide the food that we eat while we are there,” Serrano says. “This year, we also had to charge a slight fee to those riding the bus to help offset the cost of transportation.”
Scholarships are offered to any student who cannot afford the cost of the trip, as the ministry feels that services like the shoe donation are vital in carrying out its mission, particularly for the parish’s youth.
“As Catholics, we serve others, and we believe this is a great way to teach our young people the importance of service and helping others in need,” Serrano says. “Our young people are not the church of tomorrow; they are the church of today. It is inspiring to see how much they care and how willing they are to serve others.”
Kendall Lindstrom is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
