She needs to put her pride aside. You can damage your feet permanently from wearing shoes that don't fit right. Also forget your town. They sound like a bunch of A holes. The rest of the world is not like that and it's incredibly unchristian behavior for them to act like that. Be sure to point it out to them when they give you crap and if they aren't christian they are terrible regardless of their religion or lack thereof. Most religions wouldn't approve of ill treatment of the poor, and if any of them are atheist they are still jerks and don't deserve to be affiliated with atheism.