'Help a Child'

Harold Rutherford and Les Hilbert, front row sitting, left to right, and Richard Ball and Tommy Curtin, back row standing, left to right, sort the shoes that the Bristol Kiwanis Club bought for local children. Students at five schools received shoes from the club on Dec. 14-16.

By: By Tom Netherland Special to the Herald Courier | TriCities.com
Published: December 20, 2009

Bristol Kiwanis Club hands out 365 pairs of new shoes to Bristol kids

Santa sleighs down this way in a few days.
Rosy cheeks, red suit, white beard, reindeer and all – y’all probably know all about that. Your kids sure do.
Well, 365 elementary school-aged kids in the Bristol area experienced a Santa of another sort this week.
On Dec. 14, the Bristol Kiwanis Club visited Highland View and Holston elementary schools. On Dec. 15, Valley Pike and High Point. Then on Dec. 16, they stopped by Stonewall Jackson.
They came with blue for boys and pink for girls, tennis shoes in hand for children in need of shoes on their feet.
“We handed out 365 pairs of shoes,” said Richard Ball, treasurer for the Bristol Kiwanis Club. “They’re all brand new. We bought them all from Wal-Mart, and they gave us a special price.”
Kiwanis clubs locally and nationally maintain a mission to help children.
“All of our money we raise, we put back to help children,” Ball said. “There’s no reason for a child to be without. If you can help a child, help a child.”
So the Bristol Kiwanis Club has for the past six years bought shoes for children in need at Christmastime.
“We sent a slip home in October or November, and let the parents decide if they want their kids to have them,” Ball said. “That [365] is the number we had this year. This is our biggest number so far.”
This year’s cost tallied to about $3,500, Ball said.
That amounts to a tiny price paid, he said, particularly when the shoes were given to the children last week.
“It might be their only gift,” Ball said.
Some children shyly accepted the shoes. Others simply couldn’t contain their joy.
“One little boy said this was the greatest day of his life,” Ball said.