First of the year school shopping for most families means new shoes for the students. This year buying those shoes for daily use and physical education classes can be a hardship for some families. Superior’s Happy Feet program hopes to help those in need and brighten school for children.
Terri Alberts, a nurse at Brodstone Memorial Hospital, was looking for a way to help her community. She heard about the North Platte Goodfellow Shoe Fund which was started almost 70 years ago. The organization believes all children deserve a good pair of shoes to wear to school. She liked the program because 100 percent of donations and grants received in a community benefit the children of the community. Providing tennis shoes for the children is a way to help students feel good at the start of the school year and builds their self-esteem.
When a child is chosen to receive a pair of tennis shoes, the child, parent and buyer set a time after school or on a weekend for all to meet at Brown’s Shoe Fit in Hastings, a program sponsor. Personnel at the store measure the child’s feet. Then a selection of shoes in the $60 range is tried on and the child picks his pair of shoes. Besides shoes, the child receives two pairs of socks. Wearing his new shoes and a happy face, the child leaves the store.
Alberts said the Superior program hopes to allow a child to receive a second pair of tennis shoes in January. Little feet don’t stay the same size for long! Some need shoes sooner than the start of another school year.
Yvonne Watson, a buyer for the North Platte program for the past eight years, told of the delight shown by children when they had the opportunity to pick out a new pair of shoes. Some families can only afford one pair of shoes, but a second is needed for sports. This program helps in that case. Both the child and the parents are so appreciative. The North Platte program provides 535 pairs of shoes a year in the community. Watson is happy to be part of the community based program.
Alberts had hoped to start the program in Superior in April, but COVID-19 shut down Superior businesses and the program did not get off the ground. Now businesses are open, she plans to proceed. Red coffee cans will be placed in businesses in the community within the next two weeks to collect donations for the program. She is accepting coffee cans for the cause. These can be left at the Superior Chamber of Commerce office or left on the side porch at 609 N. Bloom Street, Superior. For more information about Happy Feet or to give a donation, contact Terri Alberts at 402-762-5409.
Happy Feet is a way to help under privileged children stay on the right foot for school.
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