By David Freeze
Shoes, shoes and more shoes!
I have been fortunate to lead the Walk Club at Rowan Helping Ministries for five years now. Eight weeks in the spring and eight more in the fall are when we offer positive information about healthful walking. The first part of each weekly meeting provides participants with a handout and discussion, and then we head outside to walk together on a repetitive half mile loop. We walk and talk and often the RHM participants share about their life journey. I love this part and look forward to it each week.
In the spring class just finished, we had several unique individuals. One man played YMCA basketball as a child on a team I coached about 29 years ago. Another was a municipal water expert who was down on his luck, but was hired by a nearby city and is reportedly doing very well. Another was an intriguing young woman with a big personality who spent part of her life in Jamaica after being born in Springfield, Mass. Her name is Shanariah Simpson, a 23 year old who didn’t have good walking shoes.
One week, I spent most of a two mile walk following Shanariah. I noticed that her shoes appeared to be very uncomfortable. On the last lap of the walk, I asked, “Would you like for me to see if I can find you a good pair of used running shoes?” Shenariah replied, “I would certainly appreciate that, but my feet are very small and you’ll probably have a hard time finding them.”
The runners club will have over 30 races this year and we often collect used shoes from participants and club members at those races. Plus several active club members like Joel Whittington and Connie Hoffner have ways of finding large numbers of shoes.
Shanariah mentioned that she needed a women’s size 6 or 6 ½ and said. “I have a small foot, and it is hard to find my size.” I knew right away who to ask. Adalie Harrison has recently run her first marathon and has small feet too. I knew that she was doing big mileage and would have some recently retired shoes. Those shoes would have lots more walking miles in them. I asked, and Adalie replied, “I have two good pairs and Shanariah is welcome to them.”
These two pairs of shoes were part of over 300 pairs of shoes and sandals already donated to RHM by club members and race participants for 2026. Regular serious runners get a new pair every 400-500 miles and casual runners get them often too because they want to try the latest and greatest in shoe trends.
The best part of the shoe connection happened on Wednesday afternoon. Shanariah and Adalie met for the first time amid some amazing similarities. Both are 23, wear the same size of shoe, and were local athletes in high school. Shanariah did track and basketball at West Rowan High and Adalie did basketball, cross country and track, as well as soccer at East. Shanariah also attended Early College with a GPA of 3.6, good enough for the Crosby Scholars and National Honor Society
The focus was on Shanariah. After Springfield, she lived for nine months in Kinston, Jamaica. Shanariah ended up in foster care but her adoptive mother eventually took her back to Salisbury. She is now living at Rowan Helping Ministries and took our walking class, then walked our Chillin’ to the Bare Bones 5K. Shanariah told Adalie that her “new to her” shoes feel like walking on clouds.
Besides the walking club, Shanariah likes many things about her time at RHM. She takes the “New Tomorrows” classes managed by Keven Yates, and her favorite is the Health and Hope class which teaches her how to advocate for herself. The great meals in Jeannie’s Kitchen are a favorite too, especially when the Harmony Believers prepare supper for the residents. Shanariah said, “I love how they bring fresh things from their gardens, but I admit to being partial to their desserts even with a lot of sugar.”
Shanariah is currently enjoying the art class in a big way, but she said, “I will be surprised if someone buys any of my work!”
Shanariah could see herself working at Rowan Helping Ministries as a certified peer support specialist or case manager. She said, “Yes, I would be happy to end up right back here. I just want to help people just as the current staff is helping me.”
With that, SRR keeps collecting used running shoes and they are needed. Drop them off with us at a race or at the receiving dock for RHM. Our next race is the Shiloh Run for Missions 5K/ Fun Run in Faith on June 27th. Look for it and other events at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org
