Donaldson Elementary students walked out of the multipurpose room Wednesday wearing new sneakers thanks to a nonprofit giveaway of several hundred pairs to the school.
The National Shoe Retailers Association, in partnership with the Soles4Souls nonprofit, donated 500 pairs of New Balance shoes to Amphitheater Public Schools. About 230 pairs were being given to Donaldson students, the district’s communications director said.
“I think they’re just going to walk out of here so excited. Many of them will probably wear their new shoes for the rest of the day,” Amphi spokeswoman Michelle Valenzuela said, minutes before the students received their new shoes. “And also, thanks to the generosity of the people putting this on … any shoes not taken by the Donaldson kids may go to other students in the district.”
As kids walked into the northwest-side school’s multipurpose room, they were met with volunteers who checked their shoe sizes, then guided them to the fitting stations where other volunteers helped ensure that each student had the right fit.
And like Valenzuela had predicted, each student walked out wearing the new shoes, placing their old ones in shoeboxes.
Third-grade student Aurora, 8, beamed with excitement as she waited with classmates to get their tennis shoes fitted.
“I feel awesome. … I love shoes so much because they come in all different colors, shapes and sizes,” she said, adding that the New Balance shoes could be good for her gymnastics activities.
Principal JJ Letts said she hoped the event would ease some financial burden for families while also bringing excitement to the students.
“We are so incredibly excited, grateful and thankful,” said Letts. “It’s just something that warms my heart, warms the community’s heart, that people are giving and caring because we like to give that same thing out to our community.”
