Thanks to a joint Azusa Pacific University Nursing Program/Salvation Army effort involving other community volunteers, homeless individuals in the Victor Valley will be provided with an often-forgotten-and-neglected service to benefit their health next week.
On August 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the fifth annual High Desert  “Homeless Foot Washing” event will be held at the Salvation Army headquarters in Victorville, 14585 La Paz Drive.
Dubbed “Sock, Shoes & Salvation” the faith-centered event will provide the needy with food, health screenings, haircuts, shoes, socks and other necessities.
Azusa Pacific, a private, evangelical Christian institution, includes a seminary, the Graduate School of Theology, which hews to a Wesleyan-Arminian doctrinal theology. It also features a nursing program. Nursing instructors and students from Azusa Pacific will examine the feet of those who come into the four-hour long foot clinic. The students will have an eye out for infection, which wound specialist Victor Koivisto will attempt to redress. They will also offer instruction on the importance of hygiene and offer foot care strategies for those with diabetes.
Victorville Mayor Gloria Garcia, a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Committee, will initiate the event with a convocation.
Over a dozen organizations will participate in the event, including Victor Valley Homeless Services, the San Bernardino County Behavior Health Department, the San Bernardino County Public Health Department, the Ready for Reading Book Club, God’s Hand Extended, Victor Valley College Student Homeless Services, San Bernardino County Veterans Services, High Desert Second Chance, Choice Medical, San Bernardino County Preschool Services, Community Mission Medical Care, CX3, and the Victor Valley Rescue Mission, which will provide mobile showers, courtesy of Liberty Water, which will send in a water truck.
It should be disclosed that agents with the California Highway Patrol will be present, seeking to induce or intimidate any parents with children to have those children fingerprinted. Parents can stand on their rights and refuse that “service,” if they so choose, though doing so may be difficult given the implied authority of arrest the officers may use in their efforts to get as many California residents into the state’s law enforcement data base as possible.
A number of businesses, including Cardenas Market, have contributed money to enable the event to be put on. In-Shape Health Club provided 30 boxes of shoes for use at the event.