Woman Tracks Down Shoes For Needy L.A. Residents

Pamela Leavitt did some sole searching this summer.

The 35-year-old podiatrist went all-out hunting down donated shoes for the needy, including throwing a shoe-themed party recently for donors at her home in suburban Northridge.

Boot prints outlined in chalk on the sidewalk led partiers to her house.

Guests mingled beneath a canopy decorated with old sneakers and wore name tags in the shape of a shoe.

The hundreds of pairs of shoes collected at the party will be distributed to women recovering from substance abuse in South Central Los Angeles as well as runaway teens in Hollywood.

“The women went crazy over the last ones,” said Bambi Piland, program specialist with Shields for Families, a South Central group that assists mothers with drug-abuse problems and their children.

“We’re in need of everything at this point. We’re very grateful.”

Leavitt said the idea for the collection came from the California Podiatric Medical Association, whose members have staged similar events elsewhere in the state.

Leavitt takes all kinds of shoes, although she accepts high heels against her better judgment as a foot doctor.

“They’re not very good except to sit and look pretty in. But I pass them along,” she said.