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Footprints Ministry is a totally volunteer grass-roots nonprofit that was started by Rose Averill in 2002. It functions as a 501(c)3 under For the Children of Tampa Bay.
Rose Averill is a wife, mother of two children, and an educator who has taught in various states and settings; including homeschooling, public and private grade schools, and universities. She is a graduate of New York University. Besides being the founder and director of Footprints Ministry; Rose is currently the CEO of St Francis Sleep Allergy and Lung Institute in Clearwater, Florida. St. Francis Sleep Allergy and Lung Institute's building at 802 N. Belcher Road in Clearwater, Florida, serves as the headquarters for Footprints Ministry.
Rose Averill recalls vividly the moment God revealed the need that prompted her to launch Footprints Ministry. She calls it her "somebody moment."
In July of 2002, Rose, her husband, Frank, and their two teenage children, Ashley and Ryan, volunteered at Camp Joy, a summer camp for homeless children in the Clearwater, Florida area. While they were serving as counselors at the four-day camp for 6- to 13-year-olds, many of their fellow counselors brought children to Frank, a physician. Frank noticed that 90 percent of their health problems were foot- and shoe-related. Rose and Frank realized some of the children wore slippers, two left shoes, or hand-me-downs three sizes too big. Their ill-fitting shoes resulted in bruises, welts, bleeding sores on their feet, and some more serious problems.
"One young boy's feet were too small for his body," Rose explains. "There's an old Japanese technique called foot binding, where they bind people's feet from childhood to keep them small. Since this boy wore shoes too small for his feet, he experienced the same effect."
Rose and Frank were struck by this need and decided to find ways to help meet it when they returned home. Rose visited homeless shelters in their area and learned 60 percent of the homeless in America are children. Also, while clothes are often donated to shelters, shoes are a rarity. And while hand-me-down clothes are fine, shoes that have already been molded to someone else's feet are less than ideal.
Rose asked which people or ministries were doing something about this dire need. The response surprised her: No one.
"That was my 'somebody moment,'" Rose says. "My gut response was, Somebody needs to do something!" Over the next few months, she became that somebody.
At first the Averills used their own money to buy shoes at local discount stores. Then they loaded up the back of their minivan and went to local homeless shelters for pre-arranged distributions to 20-30 kids at a time. Once word about their efforts got out, friends and neighbors volunteered their time and donated money or shoes. When an article on the Averills' efforts ran in the St. Petersburg Times, strangers volunteered as well.
Footprints provides the shoes and manpower to run what one reporter called "a moving shoe store without a register."
At a typical distribution, children from infancy to age 18 are greeted, then a volunteer measures their feet. Another volunteer gives them a new pair of socks, since most children don't have those either. Yet another volunteer takes them to the bin of shoes containing their size and gives them one-on-one attention as they try on shoes and select the pair they want. Before they leave, another volunteer gives the child-or his or her parents-a bookmark with the Footprints poem on it.
"I explain to our volunteers that we're giving the children and their parents more than just shoes," Rose says. "We're distributing love and dignity. What a blessing to be the hands that tend to Christ's feet, for as he told us, whatever we do for the least of his children, we do for him."
Rose buys most of the shoes herself with money from donations and a few grants they've received.
"God has a great sense of humor," Rose says. "You'd think he'd pick Imelda Marcos or somebody with at least a vague interest in shopping to run this ministry. But shopping is the bane of my existence. And now when I shop, it's an Olympic event!"
Several local shoe-store owners know Rose well. One clerk recently told her, "As soon as we put out the signs for our buy-one-get-the-second-half-off sale, we watch for you!" Many of them refer to her as The Shoe Lady.
"Through Footprints, God's taught me the blessing of trusting him," Rose says. "We've always had enough shoes and the right sizes for the large number of people we serve at each event. As I've watched God provide for our needs in miraculous ways, I've learned to give up my anxieties and trust him more-not just in our ministry, but in every area of my life."
"You never know where God's going to lead you. But we'll always and only be able to do what he calls us to do because his grace is sufficient."
For more information or to make a donation to Footprints Ministry, contact Rose at Footprints Minsitry Headquarters locatred inat St Francis Sleep Allergy and Lung instuiute, 802 N Belcher Road Clearwater, Florida 33766, FPMinistry@aol.com
One night a man had a dream about walking along the beach with the Lord.
The sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: his and the Lord’s.
After the last scene flashed before him, he looked at the footprints, noticing that at the most difficult times in his life there was only one set of footprints.
“Lord, you said you’d walk with me all the way if I followed you. But during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only 1 set of footprints. Why did you leave me when I needed you most?
The Lord replied, “I love you and would never leave you. In your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, that was when I carried you.”
-Author Unknown
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