Her son came running into their apartment saying that men were picking on him for being in his church clothes while playing outside and were calling her names.
When Shea Mayfield, 28, went outside to investigate, a man confronted and assaulted her. Mayfield's tailbone was fractured. She couldn't walk for 30 days.
In the weeks following her recovery, Mayfield, her 7-year-old son Curtis, and her daughter Avyonna, 4, moved out of their apartment complex and into motels, friends' houses and garages. The family of three became homeless, without resources, and with only a few items of clothing to wear as the weather faded from summer into fall.
Three months later, Mayfield is enrolled in several programs associated with the Sacramento Loaves & Fishes, a local nonprofit aiding the area's homeless.
Her children attend the Mustard Seed private school for children of homeless parents run by the organization, which provides families in need with transportation, counseling and academic support, as well as clothing when children need it. The biggest clothing need: shoes.
"They spend a lot of time on their feet in transient lifestyles," said Angela Hassell, director of the Mustard Seed School. "Sometimes they left where they were living so fast that all they have are the clothes on their backs, or they didn't grab a matching pair of shoes."
When Mayfield and her children moved out of their apartment, she put whatever she could into storage, and kept only a few items for their daily needs: "We didn't have anything, especially shoes."
The family walked between light-rail lines because they couldn't afford bus fare.
"I made it fun, you know: 'Let's see who can get there first!' "
But much of the time, Mayfield, wearing the wedge boots she had glued back together, would have to carry Avyonna because she was too young to go the distance with Mayfield and Curtis.
Hassell said that most of the time they don't have the size shoes that students need.
"Kids wear out shoes pretty quick," Hassell said. "We try to take physical barriers away from families who need to come here to get help."
The school operates on $260,000 a year, all of which is supplied by private donors.
Needed: New shoes for students at Mustard Seed School
Total: $3,000
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