Impatient Idealist

Okay, I only thought of this NOW, on RE-reading this
whole thread---- anyway I am *excited*:

A SHOE TRY OUT PARTY

Have a shoe try out and swap event. Okay, okay, this is
limited by the fact that we all have different sized
feet. None the less: advertise at shoe stores, and
?orthopedists? ?podiatrists? ?foot-clinics?
--wherever the foot with special needs is likely to
be found.

PROCEDURE:

Everyone brings ALL of their shoes. The more unusual
the better, of course. All the shoes brought
have to be labelled with owner's names. Then put
in ?different rooms? ?different corners? by size.

Then everyone spends some prearranged time (a couple
of hours?) trying on any shoes that interest them,
and walking around, etc. Then everyone helps to sort
the shoes and get them back to proper owners.
Possibly while eating snacks or trading phone numbers.

Problem: it would be hard or impossible to leave early.
All those shoes roaming around.

Risk: some shoes could get lost or stolen.

Sad limitation: more common sizes have more shoes to try.

Possible opportunity: maybe some foot docs or shoe companines
would either "sponsor" or attend and provide free advice,
shoes to try out, fitting tips, ???

Important need: how to label all the shoes so the labels
do NOT come off? The labels could have room for other info
besides owner's name, too -- type of shoes, size,
how old they are?, cost? whether the shoes are available
for trade or sale???

Oh! everyone should wear nametags with name (duh) and
shoe size. I can really imagine there would be a LOT
of discussion about the shoes. Which ones we like/love/
hate. How they feel. "Let's see, these shoes I have
on are from Katie. Where is Katie? Katie, do you
like these? Do you wear them much? Do you know if
they come in other colors??"

I'm not sure if trading/selling shoes is just tooo
complicated. Maybe that could be done AFTER the
"try on" event ends, as a separate optional thing.
Just the try-on would be complicated enough.

I'd find it really interesting to try out lots of
shoes. I'd never worn Birkenstocks till a friend
recently sold me some at a garage sale. Now they
are my favorites. (Sadly, I somehow lost them at
STtSG, and have to buy some....)

I'm picturing this as a shoe party that is especially
oriented to feet with special needs, but hope that
everyone would be welcome. But the more unusual shoes
that attend, the more it would be useful for feet with
special needs.

Suddenly I'm thinking this idea is not so great.
Maybe everyone with special shoe needs has already
figured out what kind of shoes to get? Maybe this
wouldn't attract many people with really interesting
shoes?