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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In what has become a 50-year tradition, more than 500 local elementary school students will get new shoes this year during school outings thanks to donations from Sandia National Laboratories employees to the Lab’s annual Shoes for Kids campaign.
Shoe fittings during school outings to the Mervyn’s department store at Coronado Center are the heart of the event. At each of several fittings during the year, Sandia volunteers and Mervyn’s staff fit a group of 25 children with a new pair of shoes.
Albuquerque Public School teachers and staff identify the children most in need. The students arrive at Mervyn’s in school buses. Each student is fitted with the perfect shoe of his or her choice. Typically the students jump and run in their new shoes after the fittings.
What began in the mid 1950s as a holiday gift exchange between two scientists at Sandia National Laboratories has escalated into a Sandia tradition today involving hundreds of employees. Rather than giving gifts or cards to each other, the scientists began buying new shoes for needy children.
Over the years word spread, and in 1995 Lockheed Martin/Sandia National Laboratories adopted the Shoes for Kids Program as a corporate-sponsored drive. The total amount donated has increased since 1999. Last year Sandia employees and retirees donated over $22,000. Students from 20 area schools will be fitted for shoes this year.
Photo Opportunity: Members of the news media are invited to a Shoes for Kids shoe fitting on Thursday, Dec. 15, 9:45 to 10:45 a.m., in the shoe department at Mervyn’s at Coronado Center. There will be opportunities to talk with the children and Sandia and Mervyn’s employees. Mervyn’s is located in the southeast corner of Coronado Center.
The project is a team effort. The Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union collects the donations, Mervyn’s provides shoes at discounted prices, Albuquerque Public Schools identifies children in need, and numerous local bus companies provide transportation from the schools to Mervyn’s.