Natylie Marx, a graduate student in LAS, visited her great, great-grandmother, Hazel Dyer, every day at a nursing home from third to fifth grade. Dyer passed away when Marx entered middle school.

The Red Shoe Foundation was created in memory of Dyer, who always wanted a pair of red shoes but never got them. This organization honors Dyer by fulfilling the wishes of nursing home residents in the Champaign area and allowing others to create bonds with them.

“We just go to nursing homes and we ask the residents what’s the one thing they’ve always wanted after getting to know them through things like our weekly visits,” Marx said. “And we try to provide them with that (wish) because I feel like that’s the forgotten population, and so it’s kind of a Make-A-Wish but for the older generation.” 

Marx wanted to start a project like the Red Shoe Foundation since she was in high school, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, she wasn’t able to until she became a student at the University. Marx founded the organization in the spring of 2023. 

Members of the Red Shoe Foundation carpool to Evergreen Place Assisted Living in Champaign every Thursday to socialize with residents from  6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Evergreen Place is designed for seniors to live independently in a studio or one-bedroom apartment with nearby assistance. 

Marx explained that many residents in nursing homes don’t get visitors, and there aren’t many resources for seniors.

“Oftentimes you see that you have a lot of resources not going to the older population that is in the nursing homes,” Marx said. “It’s almost as they get older, they’re more forgotten. When I was visiting my grandma in the nursing home, there (were) so many people that (didn’t) have visitors at all.”

The foundation hopes it can make a difference by creating bonds with nursing home residents, according to Marx.

“If any of our residents just don’t have anybody that comes to visit them or their family lives across the country, we just want to give them something to look forward to each week with us coming,” Marx said. 

While the Red Shoe Foundation aims to grant wishes to the older generation, Marx explained it is often difficult to get residents to tell them their wishes.

“You would be shocked at how hard it is to get them to tell you something they’ve always wanted,” Marx said. “So we’ve had to be a little bit creative with some of them.”

Regardless of these obstacles, members of the foundation succeeded in granting the wishes of a few residents by getting to know them and celebrating their birthdays.

Katie Kobel, vice president of the Red Shoe Foundation, and Kimmy Detwiler, former treasurer, baked Joy Kellogg a specific type of apple cake for her birthday which was served to all the residents.

“I practically cried,” Kellogg said. “And we had a wonderful time eating it. We shared it with everybody, and I had a little piece, laughing.”

Members of the foundation granted a wish for Randy — a nursing home resident at ClarkLindsey in Urbana — who formerly served in the Navy. 

“He was talking about the Navy and how he was on the APA22, and he just happened to mention that he’s always wanted to see the ship again,” Marx said. “We were able to find an Etsy person who could print (the ship) on a canvas with his name. So we were able to give that to him a couple months later.”

Beyond granting wishes, the foundation also participates in activities with nursing home residents.

According to Jordan DeSimone, membership director of the Red Shoe Foundation, it is never quiet when the residents of Evergreen play board games.

“It gets very competitive,” DeSimone said. “So it’s kind of fun, especially if you’re not playing that game, hearing everybody being kind of loud and (hearing) them all having fun. It sometimes gets heated. It’s not like a quiet bingo game.”

After a year of weekly visits, the Red Shoe Foundation members fostered close connections with the nursing home residents.

“One of the residents is named Jack at Evergreen, and he lived all around Africa with his wife, and they opened schools and stuff everywhere for years,” Marx said. “He feels like my grandpa. He’s super nice, and I feel like I know him, even though we’ve only really seen him once a week during the school year.”

Ever since Kobel baked Kellogg her birthday cake, baking became the topic of their conversations. 

“​​I took up baking after the cake, and so then every time I would go in, she would ask me, ‘What did (you) cook last week since last time I saw (you)?’ And so it’s kind of just something that we’d always talk about,” Kobel said.

Kellogg said Evergreen can be monotonous, so she always looks forward to seeing members of the foundation and spending time with them every week. 

“They add some spark to (our lives) when they’re here,” Kellogg said. “It’s kind of dull around here a lot of the time. It doesn’t take much to make it seem sparkly, they don’t have to wear sparkly things. They just make things brighter, more fun. And that’s what we need.”

Since the Red Shoe Foundation was founded, the organization’s members have only increased their numbers. 

On Quad Day, 359 students signed up to join the foundation, and the organization is expecting the commitment of 30 students. Due to the amount of new members, Marx explained they plan to visit more nursing homes.

“We’re trying to expand out to other nursing homes to see if we can get more engagement at those ones,” Marx said.

DeSimone also commented that more members can allow the organization to visit nursing homes on other days of the week.

“It also helps with the availability because not everyone is going to be able to come on a Thursday at 6 p.m.,” DeSimone said. “But if we have other days available at other places, it gives more people the opportunity to actually be a part of what we’re doing.”

Although students from the foundation who have gotten close with residents will graduate, Kellogg is glad they’re moving onward and looks forward to benefiting from the organization’s continued presence.

“It’s great to see kids go on and do things and hopefully there will be somebody else who will come take their place,” Kellogg said. “But if there isn’t, I’ll survive, and I will have had the joy of at least knowing those kids and seeing them pursue their dreams.”

People interested in joining or supporting the Red Shoe Foundation can follow them on Instagram.

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