It started at APTA's Annual Conference in Boston in 2005. I was walking back to the hotel with my colleague and fellow PTA Kerry Williams. We had a late dinner and decided to stop at a fast food restaurant for ice cream.

That's when I saw a mother and her two kids, a brother and sister ages maybe 9 and 11, sitting at a table. There was no food in front of them—just several large bags brimming with what looked like the family's possessions. They looked bedraggled and tired. I managed to engage them in a bit of small talk, and I mentioned that Kerry and I were planning to get ice cream. When the little boy blurted out, “That sounds good!" that was the opening I needed to convince the mom to allow me to buy the family dinner. Things did not end there. In fact, that was just the beginning.

As we sat and visited with the family, I had noticed that the girl's cloth tennis shoes were quite worn and that the laces were tied only about halfway up because both of them had broken at some point. That image has been with me these past 14 years.

With every conference since then, our association and its members have made a difference in the city we visit through the Shoes4Kids program. With a simple gift of a new pair of athletic shoes, physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and physical therapy students have given a child a chance to feel special.