Holiday House holds shoe drive at Alta Vista Elementary School

Holiday House SRQ is an organization founded on the opportunity for children at underserved schools to select Christmas presents for their families and themselves. 

However, it's never too early in the year for a Christmas gift, especially when that gift is something highly needed.

The shoe drive at Alta Vista Elementary School, which the nonprofit helped restart last year and held this year on Jan. 28, covers every student in the school, said co-founder Sepi Ackerman. 

At the other three schools the nonprofit currently serves — Wilkinson, Brentwood and Booker elementary schools — it has partnered with social workers to identify the need for shoes.

Principal Mindy Long said sneakers are expensive, and that many students have issues that affect their comfort and keep them out of activities like P.E. 

"Sometimes the shoes are falling apart, sometimes they'll come in with older siblings' shoes so they'll be multiple sizes too big, or they can't really wear them at all," she said. 

She said while agencies and community partners have been able to fill in gaps, "to be able to give the entire school brand new shoes is pretty incredible."

Fifth grader Aranza Benavides Sanchez said, "I really appreciate it, because these shoes can help me out for maybe even the next school year, and we don't have to buy any." 

Ackerman calls the smiles on children's faces "the best part" of the experience.

"It's really all about promoting joy, which is tied back to our main objective of Holiday House SRQ, which is giving them empowerment and giving them joy," she said. "It feels really good to be able to play a small part in that."