TAMPA, Fla. — The Portico will soon hand out 500 shoes to people suffering from homelessness.
It's in partnership with Samaritan's Feet, an internationally known non-profit born out of a need to help the less fortunate.
"We're also working with Gordon Food Services, their team here in Tampa, to pull it together. This is something that we did last year, and it was really, really impactful, really powerful. So this is through Samaritans Feet One City Program, and they are partnering with organizations all around the country to distribute shoes," said Lizzy Blair with The Portico.
Along with the shoes, they're also handing out what they call HOPE bags.
They're also taking a page out of Jesus' book.
"There's a connection for us here at The Portico. It's biblical. Jesus washed people's feet. He really humbled Himself and washed everybody's feet. He, you know, didn't discriminate. And it's a way to connect with somebody on a really personal level. It's an opportunity to actually spend some time with them and do an act of service for them, while also maybe getting to know them and getting to know their story. And so it's really a chance to kind of humble yourself in an act of true service to somebody who might not get a lot of those opportunities," Blair said.
Now they're asking for more people to volunteer to reach their 100 person goal. Volunteers for both this Saturday's event and their once a week community breakfast.
"A lot of our recipients that are going to be here on Saturday for the shoe event are also guests at our community breakfast that happens every Sunday morning. Our volunteers arrive at 7:30 and the doors open at eight, and we've been feeding around 160 to 200 individuals experiencing hunger or homelessness. And so this Samaritans Feet event is just one more way to connect with that community, and we see the lasting impacts that receiving those shoes really has on people, and it can help them, you know, obviously with their walking around town. But then also, you know, if they're going for a job interview or if they have kids who are in school, just having those shoes can make a really big difference. And so building those connections with those individuals that we already have, some connections with through the breakfast and some of our other homelessness events is really powerful," she added.
The event is August 17th at The Portico in downtown Tampa. It goes from 8 A.M.- 1 P.M.
If you're interested in volunteering, click here.
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