In the gym of the northwest Springfield elementary school, they had got a pretty good system going. They brought in one class at a time, and one by one paired kids with an adult volunteer, who measured their feet on a floor chart. Students then approached the shoe table and selected their pair – teachers apparently told them to consider their preferred color beforehand, but you could tell some students didn’t do that by the way they blankly stared at the selection.
After picking their pair (which also came with pairs of socks), they tried the shoes on, signed a big thank you card, and sat down for some activities while they waited for their classmates to finish up.
"We brought in 500 pair[s] of shoes, and we expect to serve about 350-400 today, depending on attendance," said Brandi van Antwerp, CEO and President of United Way. She stands at the entrance of the gym, sort of managing the line as kids are paired with volunteers.
"What’s your name?" she asks a girl.
"Aurora."
"This is Anna, she’s gonna help you out."
As Aurora and the volunteer walk to the measuring station, van Antwerp turns to me. "Yeah, I get to do the fun stuff over here — I get to meet the kids and hear them when they’re excited," she says. "They tend, when they come around the corner, to get a little bit more overwhelmed, and they quiet down for the volunteers that are working with them."
Unclaimed shoes were packed into boxes and put into storage by the school to have on hand for later.
The event was organized in partnership with Reliable Subaru, which made the shoe donation and sent employees as volunteers. The shoes were bought through Operation Warm, a nonprofit that manufactures shoes and coats for children.