Teen paints shoes for hospital patients

Tag : shoes
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The professional staff at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital cancare for, watch over, even cure their young patients, but there'ssomething they can't do that teenage volunteer Katie Chabolla can:Trick out the kids' shoes with the coolest hand-painted designs.
Hollywood movies, rock 'n' roll bands, sports stars - anything akid can be a fan of, the 17-year-old from Alamo, Calif., can splashin full color on a pair of canvas Vans kicks.
You're a dialysis patient who loves the Spanish soccer club FCBarcelona? Chabolla will send you home sporting shoes that presentyour heroes in lifelike detail, right down to the big front teethin Ronaldinho's smile.
Through her Web site, Chabolla charges $150 to $200 for hercreations, which can take her 12 hours or more to paint, dependingon their complexity.
At Lucile Packard, where she recently wrapped up her second annualtwo-week "Shoes for the Blues" volunteer project, Chabolla happilygives them away.
Such a unique piece of custom apparel would please pretty much anyyoungster, but hospital staff say the shoes come as a specialthrill for kids whose illnesses remove them from the daily sociallife of their peers.
"Having someone your own age do something with you, they interactwith you in a different way and can give you a gift that's verypersonal," said Child Life specialist Kirsten Cotten. "You reallyfeel special, really feel important, really feel normal. It'ssomething you can take pride in that's not necessarily related tothe hospital."
Chabolla, who began painting shoes as a freshman at Monte VistaHigh School in Danville, Calif., said she got the idea for thecharity project from her memory of being hospitalized for a herniaas a child.
"I remember being really bored," she said.
Chabolla's father introduced her to a family friend who works atLucile Packard last year, and she got the go-ahead to volunteerthere.
She said the experience has been gratifying - especially when shesees the look on the face of a particularly excited recipient.
Four-year-old Arturo Nicolas Martinez had been in the hospital forweeks when Chabolla came to his room recently and asked what he'dlike painted on his shoes.
It was a tough decision between pirates and Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles, but he eventually settled on the turtles.
While Arturo rested, recovering from a liver transplant, Chabollatook out her fabric acrylics and a size-appropriate pair of Vans -the company donated 80 for the cause - and got to work. She startspainting in the patient's room, then finishes at home.
When she presented Arturo with the finished product a couple ofdays later, he couldn't speak, but "his eyes got really big," saidmother Maria Martinez.
Arturo was so excited he kept the shoes on his bed for days. A fewdays later, when Cotten picked them up, he began crying, worriedshe was going to take them away.