Within the past year, His Little Feet has experienced many hardships that have occurred as the result of COVID-19. However, this Long Beach based charity has continued with their effort to provide shoes to struggling kids in poverty.
His Little Feet (HLF) is a children’s shoes charity that serves underprivileged youth in Los Angeles and Orange County. Their work involves collecting and distributing new socks and shoes to inner city schools, shelters and homeless services.
Hai Wolf, founder and executive director shares that the charity began in 2014 when her own children had outgrown their shoes and needed new ones. However, while in this process she stumbled upon a bigger problem.
“We heard that at Jane Addams Elementary, kids were taping their shoes up so that their socks wouldn’t get wet during the rainy days,” Wolf said.
She decided to do something about this and made the initiative of putting together a shoe collection. In the end, roughly 200 pairs of shoes were donated to the elementary school.
“The counselor was thrilled and asked us to keep them coming because the need was so large,” Wolf said.
Since then, the charity has expanded and as of January 2021, HLF has collected over $1 million dollars’ worth of shoes and socks. Their long-term goal is to keep growing, helping those in surrounding states and even internationally.
“Every year we try to do at least one thing out of state where there’s a huge need,” Wolf said. Such as in 2017 when HLF contributed to the hurricane Harvey relief.
But for the members of this charity, providing shoes to children means more than just giving them a resource. In a 2019 interview with The Grunion, Wolf said: “It’s not just about shoes that fit, it’s also about how (kids) feel in the shoes.”
Millikan student Alisha Seewald agrees. “I think school can kind of be a place where it’s really easy to let other people’s opinions on what you look like get in the way of just simply wanting to be there,” Seewald said. “It sounds kind of weird, but having nice clothes and shoes just feels good and I guess is just one less thing to worry about.”
Yet like most small businesses in the past year, HLF has faced quite a financial struggle due to the pandemic. In a time where many people are trying to provide enough for themselves, donations have become only a fraction of what they were previously.
“We used to receive close to 3,000 pairs of shoes a year and now that’s dropped off to maybe a few hundred pairs,” said Wolf. “We’ve been having to collect more funds and purchase the shoes ourselves just so we can get some of the need met. But we haven’t been able to meet the need quite the same.”
Additionally, the organization has had to let some of their help go due to not qualifying for the Paycheck Protection Program. Wolf calls this moment a “turning point” and is trying her best to keep their doors open.
Most recently, the charity announced their second annual Heart & Sole Fundraising Gala that is scheduled for June 5th at The Grand in Long Beach. The night will include a 3-course dinner, live entertainment, and an auction.
Despite the challenges, His Little Feet has stayed true to their motto of stomping out the stigma of poverty in our community one pair of shoes at a time.
For more information on the charity or the Gala go to www.hislitfeet.org.