Next steps unclear for Delaware nonprofit aiming to give students 'Shoes That Fit'
She was pregnant, working a Wilmington corporate job and questioning her purpose in life.
It was 1998, and Joanne Glauser remembers picking up a magazine to see bulky sneakers, white crew socks and painted walls of a California school staring back at her. The expectant mom, spending her days in the world of security and finance, found herself absorbed in a September issue of Family Circle.
A young boy had come into his principal's office seven times complaining that his feet hurt, she read, until finally a secretary at the California elementary thought to take off his shoes. Turns out, the boy's feet had been crammed into sneakers two sizes too small. She massaged his feet until the toes could once again bend.
Then, she put the shoes back on and sent him back to class.
"The woman told me that there are so many needy kids, they didn't even know where to start," said Elodie Silva, quoted in the article from Sept. 15, 1998. Glossy pages in Glauser's hands celebrated how Silva then launched Shoes That Fit, the outfit quickly growing into a national organization from its small California epicenter.
Back in Delaware, that clicked.
Glauser and her husband, John, established a Delaware chapter of the organization by the next year, leveraging her connections at then-MBNA bank to garner funding and volunteers to support Wilmington students. Glauser started organizing coworkers, friends and even her own kids to volunteer. Over two decades, services grew to span all three Delaware counties, with a focus on providing something as simple as free shoes or uniforms to students experiencing housing insecurity.
Before pandemic shutdown, Glauser was celebrated by her national office as having served tens of thousands of kids in the First State. Today, a bit like Family Circle magazine's folding in 2019, the future feels unclear.
"Like right now, without getting some more support in Delaware, it could die with me," said the working mom of two, who is now nearing retirement. "My concern is, if for whatever reason, I'm not around anymore or nobody takes it up — then that's just an opportunity that's lost in the state."
Her national organization has revamped its efforts in the last year, aiming to help chapters capitalize on shoe partnerships with Nordstrom, Rack Room Shoes, Nike and more.
Glauser hopes Delaware can get in on it — even if shoes seem a small resource at first glance.
"There are so many things that make you an outsider when you're trying to fit in at school," she said. "And if that's one thing that could bring them a little bit closer to being equal to their peers to being able to concentrate in school — we should do it."
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Why should anyone care?
It's about dignity.
That's how April Anderson would explain it, and it's her career to explain it. She has worked within Red Clay district office for nearly a decade, serving as its liaison for special populations. Another name for the post is a McKinney-Vento liaison — after the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act law, a 2001 federal law requiring all schools to minimize educational disruptions for students experiencing homelessness.
"I think people would be amazed at the things, that we might consider minor, that stop a child from going to school," Anderson said. Some barriers would be unquestionable, from transportation to school when displaced, to assistance while awaiting foster care placement or getting the next meal.
Others are small, like what to wear.
"We have clothing closets in some of our schools that are actually filled with some of the sneakers that we've gotten from Shoes That Fit," Anderson said. "Since we have those resources in our schools, that's a safe opportunity for our kids to be able to get those basic needs without cost."
From back-to-school events to resource closets and steady partnerships with schools, Anderson estimates over 200 students benefit from Shoes That Fit donations in her district, each year.
Right now, she keeps track of about 400 youngsters facing homelessness from kindergarten to high school in Red Clay. Districts throughout the state face their own totals to support — making up nearly 2.5% of all public school students, or just over 3,400 in Delaware, per National Center for Homeless Education figures in 2022.
"The reality is, that's fulfilling a basic need. And we know that if those basic needs are not fulfilled that might lead to kids becoming more truant," Anderson said. "Even if it's in a small way, like providing them a pair of sneakers, I think that's worth exploring."
And Glauser just wants to keep going.
She works in information security by day, and she's a grant writer by night. Glauser wants to help more kids, but the work has gotten harder. She wants to bring an organization into the 21st century, with better online presence than an email and Volunteer Delaware listing. She's having Shoes That Fit participate in an upcoming DoMore24 campaign, hoping to encourage Delawareans to give to local nonprofits.
"I'm trying to get moving again, now that the pandemic is over, there's a refocus, and I have the support of my national organization for this," she said, imagining she may retire in five to seven years.
"That's the future of our state, right? Something as simple as making sure that they have the right shoes to wear, so they can engage in their education. It could change the trajectory of their lives."
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Got a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for Delaware Online and USA TODAY Network Northeast, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Next steps unclear for Delaware nonprofit providing shoes for students
