CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For a number of Charlotte leaders this Wednesday wasn’t a typical Wednesday.
Instead of getting up and driving to offices at the Government center or the administrative center at CMS headquarters, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, Councilmember Nancy Carter, CMS Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman, Mecklenburg county Chairperson Jennifer Roberts and county commissioners, Harold Cogdell Jr. and Neil Cooksey laced up their walking shoes and took to the streets of Charlotte.
They left their homes this morning and rode CATS buses to the transit center in uptown as part of the "In Their Shoes" experience.
The program was put together by Goodrich Corporation and Piedmont Natural Gas after members of those companies tried a similar event last fall.
The group got a firsthand look at what many of Charlotte’s people in poverty and homeless are dealing with as they met hundreds of people at various stops.
First they went to the Crisis Assistance Ministry center, and then they took a walk under bridges and near railroad tracks where many of the homeless are forced to lay their heads.
"It has to impact anyone who would come and actually see some of the things we've seen," says Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx.
Many of the leaders have been to the places they visited today, but not in this way.
Today they were able to experience the streets like those in need.
The groups were comprised of about a dozen leaders each.
They traveled to Urban Ministries and ate lunch with hundreds of homeless people and people in need of help.
They heard how those people wound up in those situations and what leaders could do to help first-hand.
Councilmember Nancy Carter says she feels that this will ultimately lead to more help for the city's poor by providing housing and assistance instead of having the homeless seek other ways to stay off the streets, like committing crimes just to go to jail.
"It’s $37 in the homeless shelter, it's $110 in the jail each day look at those figures," says Carter.
