A step up: Hundreds of elementary kids receive new shoes

IDAHO FALLS — Three hundred and two lucky students from Hawthorne Elementary in Idaho Falls each picked a new free pair of shoes Thursday at the Mountain America Center.

Despite the chilly and snowy March weather, the students loaded onto buses and arrived excited at the Blue Cross of Idaho Conference Center.

“When we put the shoes on, we can play with them and run with them because they’re faster,” said first-grader Lorelei Nugent.

Lorelei chose cute pink and white shoes that matched with her friend’s.

“They get to come shop for the color, shop for their size, have ownership in it, and they get to take them home,” said Kelsey Salsbery, director of marketing for Mountain America Center.

Every K-6 student at the school received new footwear. Local volunteers and center employees helped measure students’ shoe sizes and let the kids pick their favorite pair.

The annual initiative is part of Operation Warm and was sponsored by Mountain America Credit Union and the Mountain America Center.

In 25 years, Operation Warm has provided more than 6 million shoes or coats for kids in 4,000 communities across the nation, its website states.

“We have a lot of kids who have less (materially), and some of them their shoes are falling apart … so this is a big deal,” said kindergarten teacher Chanelle Hohrein.

Several of her students have shoes with holes in them and come back from recess with wet feet.

“Sometimes they hurt by the end of the day because their feet get pruney in their shoes. … (Now) they can go out to recess and not worry about cold feet,” Hohrein said.

The funding for the shoes came from donations by Mountain America Credit Union for every goal made by the Idaho Falls Spud Kings and Idaho State University football and basketball teams, Salsbery said.

“Mountain America Credit Union has partnered with Idaho State Bengals to donate funds to Operation Warm for every three-pointer that the basketball team made this year,” said Angie Phillips, senior public relations manager for Mountain America Credit Union.

The kids smiled and ran around as they tried out their new footwear, with all the students showing off their varied colors and designs.

“These look really cool,” said fifth-grader Urijah Hinton, sporting his new dark blue shoes. “I really love how they fit like so nicely.”

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