The Chattanooga Community Kitchen’s Foot Care program was featured in today’s edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press! The article, Foot Care for the Homeless, highlighted the value of the program given the particular challenges that the homeless experience with their feet.
As the article notes, when Brother Ron Fender came to us in 2002, he created a special program inspired by the ancient, Biblical tradition of washing a guest’s feet as a sign of hospitality when they enter one’s home. The program evolved as we began to see foot care as a vital component to homeless health care as well as an incredible indicator of greater problems like diabetes and gout.
Many of the homeless carry all of their earthly belongings on their backs day-in and day-out as they trek across the city to access services, go to work, and find a safe place to sleep. If you also consider that they often do not have access to good, supportive shoes and that the homeless are also at higher risk than the general population for infection or diseases like diabetes, we are so glad to have UTC nursing students come out and perform this incredible service!
Last year, the Foot Care program cared for the feet of more than 200 individuals thanks to our incredible volunteers from UTC.
Learn more about the program here. Help out by donating one of the items indicated in the TFP article.
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