New shoes and Easter go together - which is why the Children in Transition Program in the Carson City School District recently distributed hundreds of pairs of shoes.
Kim Riggs, who operates the program for the school district, said Easter is the perfect time to distribute the shoes.
"Homelessness is all year-around and this gets the kids through the summer until we see them again in September," Riggs said.
Eight community groups collected the shoes over the past three weeks.
"We just have an amazing community that comes up and helps to do this," Kim Riggs said. "I wouldn't be able to do it without them."
The groups include St. Paul's and Lutheran Brotherhood; St. Peter's Family Church; Soroptimists; St. Teresa; the law firm of Hale, Lane, Dennison, Howard and Anderson; Sunset Rotary Club; The Telephone Pioneers of Carson City; and Builder's Association of Western Nevada members Harding Larson Associates, Stewart Title, Northern Nevada Title Co., Powell Cabinets, Empey & Co., Dyname Diversified, Metcalf Builders and E.S.P. West.
Riggs said Advocates to End Domestic Violence and Volunteers of America both distributed shoes.
"A little 8-year-old girl told me, 'My mom can't afford the light-up ones,'" Riggs said.
Teachers find candidates for the shoes and put in referrals two weeks ahead of time. Riggs spent the last week going from school to school getting the right sized shoes in place.
Socks were also distributed.
