DANVILLE, Pa. — It's summer break at Danville Primary School, but some students and teachers were there on this day, packing up shoes for a fundraiser.
"At the end of our classes, or in between classes, they would help me to tie them together or rubber band them together and put them in bags of 25 and tie them up," said Tina Bartholomew, Danville Primary school's Spanish teacher.
Bartholomew is also in charge of the Kids Run the Nation program. The afterschool program includes a running club. Recently, the club started collecting shoes, which will go to more than two dozen countries around the world.
"These countries will use them to the best of their abilities. Some of them will be wearing them. Some of them will be using them as setting up their own shop to make income for them in third-world countries," Bartholomew explained.
The group hopes to raise about $1,000 from this project, and the money will go to Danville Primary School's running club.
The students collected more than 2,500 pairs of shoes.
"I just thought it would be nice to help the other countries with the shoes," Charlotte McCabe said.
"I wanted to appreciate all the people who brought in shoes for the shoe drive," Callen Lenches said.
"They really worked so hard," Bartholomew said. "They would bring in one pair of shoes in their backpacks, and they'd say, 'Mrs. Bartholomew, I have shoes today.' They were so happy."
Bartholomew says the fundraiser will help keep the Kids Run the Nation program up and running at Danville Primary School.
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