Kathleen’s Sharing from the LA Footcare Ministers Sent 1-19-11
Our time here in LA so far has been gift. A gift of God’s love and grace. We have been
blest beyond measure. Thank you all for your love, prayers and support. We feel it. We
also have enough stories to fill a book. So here are just a few of those stories. Maybe we
all need to gather when we get home and we could share more.
Mary Lou’s Stories
For the last week and half, we have been doing foot care for the homeless in Los
Angeles. There are some people who wonder why we do it. Touching people’s feet is
not a very pleasant thing for many. Feet are smelly, not the cleanest part of the body,
many times they have fungus and hard thick nails, at least many of those we have seen.
Well, in my way of thinking foot care is transformational, especially here the garden
where we meet the homeless. People are transformed, feet are transformed and I am
transformed.
Everyday going to the foot clinic I am not sure what I will face. I have to step out of my
comfort level and be challenged. Everyday we see people who are humbled and so
grateful for this care. When they leave they feel like dancing and their spirits are lifted. I
truly give very little but cleaning and cutting their toenails and washing their feet. Is that
not what Jesus did? I am transformed by these people allowing me to give them care.
Many times they have hid their feet because they are ashamed. They are transformed in
humility when they allow me to soak, wash and clean their feet. I am transformed
because I am able to be Jesus’ hands for just a little while. I am humbled and blessed by
their appreciation and love. There is a connection between us of Christ’s love, and their
feet are transformed.
Many have thick calluses they have walked on for miles and they feel like rocks. The
calluses are ground down and smoothed out so they can walk with out pain. They are
transformed, their feet are transformed and I am transformed in God’s grace.
Today I worked on a gentleman whose toenail was growing backwards into the skin of
his big toe. At first he did not want me to see it or to soak it. I finally convinced him that
he really needed to have it taken care of. Immediately I sent up a quick prayer to Jesus,
“ These are your hands, guide me and Jesus help me to help this man.” The toenail was
cut, pulled out and cleaned. The wound was dressed, and the rest of his feet were cared
for. I was transformed and his feet were transformed and he was transformed.
William
William came to the clinic the second day of the toenail clinic. He was somewhat
hesitant to sit down on the chair I offered him. It was toward the end of our day. When I
looked at William more closely I realized that I had worked on his feet and ankles two
years ago when I first come down to do foot care. How could this be? Could he have
waited that long for foot care? So, I asked him, “Did I do your feet before?” “Yes. I
remember you”, was his response. William toenails were very long and thick curling
over his toes and his ankles were covered in thick dried callous skin. There was no way I
could do a proper job in the time we had left. So I told him I would start the procedure
and he would need to return the next morning. William was patient and I knew it was
hurting him as I chipped and cut the thick toenails. I also began grating away at the thick
skin on his ankles. We only had a few minutes left before time to close so I said please
come back in the morning at 8 AM. William arrived just as I finished my first client and I
was so glad he returned. We began again the process of working on his feet and ankles.
As I worked on him he proceeded to tell his story of how he and his wife has lost their
house and how they cut backs and circumstances he had lost his job. His wife was
diagnosed with kidney failure and placed in a nursing home and when he went to visit her
she confided they were not treating her right. He took her out of the nursing home and
soon after she fell and broke her leg and was taken away to a hospital and he didn’t know
where. For three days he looked for her and finally his son came and told him that she
had died. He is now living in a place called the Madison Hotel and he misses her so
much and doesn’t like it there. When I finished working on his feet I found a pair of
socks that would fit his feet. His feet and legs are quite large. We made a date to meet
next Friday before I leave for a follow up. When he left the smile and thank you he gave
were gifts.
S.S.’s Stories
The Soup Kitchen is home to six parakeets that live a roomy cage, which is wheeled out
each day for the guests to view and enjoy. When the sun got to bright and hot for the
birds one of the women guests told us in no uncertain terms to get some shade for the
poor birds! Another guest stood and held his cell phone up to the cage to allow his
listener to hear the song of the birds, “Do you hear that? Do you hear that? And the
Catholic Church is here and they have food – for US!”
In response to someone saying they had no friends on skid row just associates, Kevin
said, “This is the LA City Central East neighborhood. I’ve lived here 20 years and never
been on skid row. Where is skid row anyway? I’ve never seen it.”
Then there was Ed who used a cane and could barely walk. Every nail was a half -inch,
twisted, curling over the top of his toes and filled with fungus. The nails were cutting into
the sides of his toes causing painful ingrown toenails. After I cut and cleaned his nails
out I told him that he would be ready to go out dancing tonight. He said maybe not
dancing but strolling across the floor!
One day I worked on Alex’s nails. The next day Alex brought his girl friend Becky.
They had just arrived the week before from Texas looking for quicker health care because
Becky has ovarian cancer. He wondered what would happen when she had surgery,
which they had been promised. Where would she find a place to lie down after being
released from the hospital? Things seemed to be taking longer than promised. Had they
made a good decision to come?
Kathleen’s Stories
I have been very happy here. For some unknown reason I like cutting toenails. I like
taking a dirty, unhappy foot or feet and making them beautiful again. I also like all the
hugs, and the conversations. Even though some people come with their confessions of
not taking care of their feet for a year, some have taken care and it shows.
Author was a man who came the first day of the clinic. He was slouched over in his chair
while I worked on his feet. He was dirty as many are. Arthur was missing all his teeth so
when he spoke I struggled understanding what he was saying. He was an elderly man
who may have had a stroke. His toenails were very long and bent over his toes. His
calluses were thick and big, it would be like having rocks in your shoes. When he was
done soaking his feet I started by getting rid of the calluses. He kept pointing to his nails
wanting me to cut them. I kept reassuring him that I would indeed cut those nails. When
I did cut the first nail I handed it to him. He looked at it and very ceremoniously dropped
it in the water. We repeated this ritual for all the nails. An hour and a half after I started
I was done. His feet were beautiful. He gave me a beautiful toothless smile as my gift at
the end also with a wonderful hug. But the next morning I received another gift from
Author. He showed up at 8 in the morning and I didn’t recognize him. He had bathed,
put on clean clothes and he had new shoes. He looked smart and handsome. Praise God
for miracles.
Lena is a very skinny woman who moves, and moves. When I greeted her in our line I
noticed she had some painted toenails. I told her we’d have to get the polish off before
we could work on her nails. She was fine with this. I brought her over our tub with nail
polish remover, cotton balls and lots of nail polish in all kinds of colors. She was thrilled.
After she removed her polish on her toes, she spent a long period of time painting her
fingernails with such joy in her being. When I was ready to be with her, she came over
and I gave her a tub of warm water to soak her feet, you think she had died and gone to
heaven. Women who come to us know how to really appreciate what is happening. It
reminds them of spas, and the beauty parlor. Lena’s calluses were very thick. She shared
part of her story of living on the streets. She won’t go to a shelter, because she doesn’t
like them. As I worked on her feet she fell asleep. I spent a good hour on her feet. I had
to waken her when I was done. Since her feet were in bad shape she agreed eagerly to
come next week for another treatment. I showed her how to soften the calluses with
Vic’s vapor rub so that they could come off easier when I saw her in five days. We
hugged and said good-bye. When we were getting into the van to leave there was Lena
across the street waving and greeting us. She was stretched out reclining on top of two
shopping carts that were covered in a blanket. The next morning, low and behold at 8:00
there was Lena, ready for her next treatment. She was dressed up and looking beautiful.
I gave her a hug and said that she needed to treat the feet for a few days so she would be
ready for another treatment. She was heartbroken, but willing to do it. I pray that she
comes back next week.
Although we work with more men than women, it is the women’s reactions to our being
here that stirs my heart more. Like Lena, they are more open to their longing for creating
beauty and being beautiful. They don’t want to hear that we are cutting toenails; but that
we are giving pedicures and that we have nail polish for their nails. An Asian woman was
hoping I could scrub her whole body like in the spas of her past. I wanted to be able to do
this, but couldn’t. She did spend over an hour with the nail polish. The men are more
reserved on the whole about what is going on inside. But I know transformation has taken
place when they come back the next morning clean looking spiffy and telling other men
to have their feet worked on. Their has been one man who I worked on the first morning,
he has come back to say hello and check up on us everyday. These people have changed
me, transformed me and are my best teachers.
Judy’s Stories
This year I notice an abundance of gratitude talk. I hear it in those sitting, waiting fortheir
turn at foot care. I hear it as the men & women talk to each other while we tend to their
feet. It is God talk.
I hear “God is helping me, He is there for me, I can depend on Him.” One man who was
on his way to being a traveling preacher said, “It’s all about loving kindness. Jesus is
Loving Kindness. What you are doing is loving & kind. You are about Jesus.” “Amen”,
said the person whose foot I held. “Amen”, said I.
That’s not to say all is love and lightness. There’s still plenty of tension to go around.
Flared tempers can break out along the lineup for food. Folks in that waiting line wind
past our foot care stations in the garden and if a spat is escalating the temptation to jump
in can be compelling. Reassuringly in these moments a community member appears from
nowhere and those involved are instantly wrapped in kindness & respect as they come to
experience what needs to happen for all to feel safe in our shared space.
But what we see most often, over and over again in fact, is the gentleness of thosewho sit
and dip their feet in our soaking tubs. They talk about the addictions (mostly unnamed)
that God is saving them from. They use the words, “I’ve made some bad choices but God
is helping me to come back. I’m getting there.” Or, “I’m not there yet, but almost.” The
wellspring of hope seems more undeniable here than most places I hang out in my
everyday life. It stops me in my tracks. Where does this come from – this spirit of
tomorrow will be better and God is with me?
It is here in the struggles I find my affinity. It feels like we are so much more alike that
we are unalike. I don’t know the depth of the powerlessness experienced on the street in
my own daily travails, and yet somehow it seems we are all in the same inner space when
it comes to dealing with falling short or missing those marks we set for ourselves. I feel
so akin to the beautiful people I am meeting and so grateful to be invited in as they open
and share. There are a lot of preachers here on Skid Row, the kind that know how to truly
speak to your heart.
__________________
Our day continues after we are done in the clinic. When we arrive back at the CW house
we have our mountain of towels to wash and showers to take. Then there is the
debriefing of each day. We join in with the community for some of their activities, but
bedtime comes early for us, often before 8:30-9:00 pm. Life is ever so good and we are
thankful for the gift of being here, of being blest and held in prayer as we are
transformed.
Here is one of the prayers that is prayed by folks working in the soup kitchen before work
starts in the morning.
You will find that charity
The uglier and dirtier they will be,
Is a heavy burden to carry
The more unjust and insulting,
Heavier than a bowl of soup
The more love you must give them.
And the full basket.
But you will keep your gentleness
It is only for your love alone
And your smile.
That the poor will forgive you
The bread you give to them.
It is not enough to give soup
And bread
This the rich can do.
You are the servant of the poor,
Always smiling
And always good humored.
They are your masters,
(Terribly sensitive) and exacting masters
You will soon see.
+St. Vincent de Paul