Over 400 Lubbock kids in need get new shoes from Lubbock Association of Realtors

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Lubbock Association of Realtors hosted its Step Up for Kids event at Shoe Department in the South Plains Mall this weekend.

This is a partnership with Communities in Schools of the South Plains to provide shoes for families in need.

“The excitement in all the children as they’re opening up their pair of shoes and seeing it, a brand new pair of shoes that they’re going to get to try on and take home,” the Chief Retention and Development Officer for Communities in Schools of the South Plains, Eloisa Vigil, said.

That feeling of opening a new box of shoes is even sweeter for these kids.

“Communities in Schools of the South Plains has gone in and helped identify the children that need these,” the Chair of the Step Up for Kids committee, Ginger Robertson, said.

The Lubbock Association of Realtors does this every year, but the need is greater this year.

“Last year, we gave away about 250 pairs of shoes. This year it’s going to be over 400,” Robertson said.

This is a level of need that the organization has never seen before.

“We really felt like this year there was more need than ever before with everything that’s going on with inflation,” Robertson said.

These shoes are a way for kids to express their personality, and it helps the family with something everybody needs.

“If you’re a family of four, and you’re able to come in and get four brand new pairs of shoes, and these are shoes that family are not having to pay themselves, this allows them the opportunity to be able to go and maybe buy food for the week,” Vigil said.

It’s out with the old, and in with the new for every kid in the family. Shoe Department’s store manager, Mary Helensaenz, says parents were showing volunteers just how thankful they were.

“She kept telling her, ‘Thank you, thank you,’ she had five kids,” Helensaenz said. “’Thank you, whoever is doing this, tell them we said thank you, because without anybody’s help, we struggle.’ So, just by them telling us thank you, that they appreciate it, hey, what more can you ask for?”

It’s an annual event that plans to continue supporting these families.

“Kids are growing, and if they’re not able to provide shoes this year, they’re most likely not able to provide shoes for them next year. This allows them the opportunity to be able to come back and receive a brand new pair of shoes,” Vigil said.

Families showed up to the Shoe Department in the Hub City, but Helensaenz says these shoes come from multiple cities.

For more information of the Lubbock Association of Realtors click here. For more information on Communities in Schools of the South Plains click here.

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