A 2nd Act: One Small Step

Because it’s always the beginning

Judy Pearson | Contributing Writer

He stood there, small and shivering, covering one grubby foot with the other for warmth. In that moment, Caryn Shoemaker’s heart broke. It was a chilly January evening and she was serving a meal to migrant workers who had come to work in the Chandler orange groves. The church group had also collected articles of clothing to pass around as needed.

“In an instant I knew what I had to do,” Shoemaker said. “There was a pair of men’s socks on a nearby clothing table. I grabbed them and slid them onto his feet. He couldn’t have been more than 2 — and the socks were huge! He smiled, his mother thanked me shyly, and I thought how easy it was to make someone more comfortable. I decided right then that as soon as I retired, I was going to do something with socks.”

And that’s exactly what she did. Beginning in 2001, and over the course of the next eight years, Shoemaker and a group of friends dubbed themselves One Small Step, and provided 150,000 pairs of socks to the Chandler clothing bank. Then in 2009, the clothing bank closed.

“All I could think of was, ‘What are these people going to do for clothes?’” Shoemaker said. “So we found half of a vacant portable classroom at a Chandler school and set up our own clothing bank, calling it the Clothes Cabin. When the school wanted their classroom back, we got serious about our mission. We filed paperwork to make One Small Step a bona fide nonprofit, found our own location and became a regional clothing bank.

“Many cities require their clients to prove residency, provide children’s birth certificates and so on. If you’re homeless, that’s hard to do. We don’t care where — or what — you call home. As our vision statement says, we believe that no person or family within our service area should lack the clothing they need to secure employment, succeed in school, maintain a healthy and hygienic life, and be socially accepted,” Shoemaker said.

She and One Small Step’s board, along with their band of more than 70 volunteers, had never conceived of doing anything more than clothing.

And they were committed not to duplicate the services of other organizations. But they also came to realize there were many little things that would help people become independent. A woman came in looking for sheets, so they added towels and beddings to their inventory at the Clothes Cabin. A man needed steel-toe boots to work as a day laborer. They began buying new boots at a discount, turning that request into their back-to-work program.

“When men can find employment,” Shoemaker explained, “their families don’t need clothing, which then makes it available to others. Another day, a homeless man picked out some new T-shirts in the Clothes Cabin. He had no way to keep his clothing clean, he told us, so he wore the same ones to their filthy end. That was the inspiration behind our laundry service, and now clothing doesn’t have to be thrown away.”

One Small Step keeps allowance sheets for all of their clients. They’re able to provide one load of laundry a week — now up to 360 loads a year — and five articles of clothing, plus underwear and accessories, for each man, woman and child every three months.

The Clothes Cabin inventory is a combination of clean donations and items they’ve purchased. Funds are raised via an annual event called “No More Chilly Nights,” and from their Friends Resale Boutique, where they sell donated and gently used household and decor items. But designer purses are gratefully accepted. “If we can get $40 for a Coach purse, we can buy 160 pairs of socks!” Shoemaker said.

Like a bougainvillea bush, the programs continue to blossom. Someone told them his cart and all of his belongings had been stolen, so they installed storage lockers for the homeless to secure valuables. They offer mailboxes so clients can receive benefits checks and other communications. When they saw clients using their bathrooms to clean up before putting on new clothing, they saw a need for showers, which they’re installing at their new, even larger location.

One Small Step was named because their original mission was providing socks. In retrospect, it was a prophetic choice. The organization provides one small step toward helping a man or woman get a job by providing them proper clothing. It is one small step toward helping children find normalcy in their lives by providing closed-toed shoes for playing at recess. It’s just one small step from being shabby and unseen toward being treated with respect and dignity.

After all, every journey begins with one small step. To learn more, go to onesmallstepaz.org.