{"id":25313,"date":"2024-10-17T23:14:10","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T05:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/500-pairs-of-shoes-distributed-to-apache-elementary-families\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:14:27","slug":"500-pairs-of-shoes-distributed-to-apache-elementary-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/500-pairs-of-shoes-distributed-to-apache-elementary-families\/","title":{"rendered":"500 pairs of shoes distributed to Apache Elementary families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"In
In partnership with Save the Children and San Juan County Early Childhood Coalition, Apache Elementary School distributed 500 pairs of shoes on Wednesday, Oct. 17 in efforts to bring basic necessities to students after seeing a need from an assessment conducted last winter, according to Crystal Harrison, community school coordinator. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A line of families with curious students quickly formed inside Apache Elementary on Wednesday as an array of shoe boxes filled the school hallways.<\/p>\n

Save the Children and San Juan County Early Childhood Coalition partnered with the school to bring a truck and trailer of shoes totaling 500 pairs.<\/p>\n

Volunteers brought in boxes and began sorting them by sizes as families started to show up early to the distribution.<\/p>\n

Families who are considered economically disadvantaged or identifying as homeless were encouraged by administration to attend the distribution, said Selece Gathings, San Juan County Early Childhood Coalition coordinator.<\/p>\n

However, many other families showed up to receive shoes, according to Gathings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe even abandoned our list,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you were willing to wait in line, you really need shoes. If they\u2019re here, there\u2019s a need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Families
Families wait to be assigned a volunteer that will assist them in finding a pair of shoes for their child during a distribution coordinated by Save the Children and San Juan County Early Childhood Coalition at Apache Elementary on Wednesday, Oct. 16. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Volunteers
Volunteers with Save the Children and San Juan County Early Childhood Coalition open boxes filled with new shoes at Apache Elementary School on Wednesday, Oct. 17 in efforts to bring basic necessities to students. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A student attempts to find her shoe size with a guardian at Apache Elementary on Wednesday, Oct. 16. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Any unclaimed shoes were donated to the newly established clothing closet at Apache and other child care facilities, according to Gathings.<\/p>\n

There is a need for colder climate garments at Apache Elementary School, said Crystal Harrison, community school coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have created some great partnerships with community organizations to get jackets, winter boots, and shoes in our clothing closet, but we still need to fill those gaps of jackets and shoes we don\u2019t have in stock,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The clothing closet will need to replenished with hygiene items, food pantry items and clothes in medium and large for both boys and girls, Harrison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our needs assessment conducted last winter we have a very high percentage of students that are not getting their basic needs met with clothing, shoes, hygiene items, and food,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cThis is why the partnership with San Juan Early Childhood Coalition is extremely valuable to us to help our students get one of those needs met.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students departed the school with smiling faces and excitement as they spoke about their new shoes to family members describing the colors and design.<\/p>\n

Harley Frank, third grade, had a smile on her face leaving the school as she carried a pair of colorful tennis shoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a colorful person, so and she loves tennis shoes,\u201d said her mother, Herberta Shorty. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much her personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

climate brings large need for clothing items, administration says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78887,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25313\/revisions\/78887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25313"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}