Shoes 4 the Shoeless delivers new shoes to 174 New Carlisle area children

Clark County Sheriff's Deputy John Loney hands out boxes of shoes for children during the Shoes 4 the Shoeless drive thru event at Tecumseh High School Wednesday morning. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Clark County Sheriff's Deputy John Loney hands out boxes of shoes for children during the Shoes 4 the Shoeless drive thru event at Tecumseh High School Wednesday morning. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Nearly 200 children in the New Carlisle community received new shoes during Wednesday’s Shoes 4 the Shoeless delivery drive-thru.

“What we’re trying to do right now and we’ve been working on it for about a month is a drive-up system where we’re not measuring feet,” said Kris Horlacher, Director of Shoes 4 the Shoeless. “We can’t do that anymore with COVID, so we’re doing the next best thing.”

Families could pull up to the delivery drive-thru at Tecumseh High School where they would give volunteers their child’s shoe size and they would go inside and bring the shoes out to them. Volunteers distributed shoes to 174 children.

“It’s not as good as our other system but it’s good and it’s better than nothing,” said Horlacher. “Until COVID goes away, we still need to meet this need for the children.”

Tecumseh’s superintendent said this was the first time partnering with the organization to host this event at their school.

“This is the first time Tecumseh’s done this but I am praying it will not be the last,” said Superintendent Paula Crew. “We have had an incredible turn out.”

The shoe drive included the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, school administrators and staff, community volunteers and the Shoes 4 the Shoeless team.

“I think this is great. Since the virus has hit and we’ve not been able to do it inside the buildings, they came up with the idea to try and do a drive-thru,‘' Sheriff Deb Burchett said. She added that the process has been well-received by the public.

Along with the new shoes, children also got two pairs of new socks as well.

Shoes 4 the Shoeless was started in 2010 to “meet the biggest unmet need for a kid in poverty, which is one pair of shoes that fits and a pair of socks,” said Horlacher. The organization typically helps 25 to 26,000 children a year in schools in 12 counties.

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