Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Clarissa Russell, right, puts her old shoes on after finding a new pair at the ‘Soles for Christ’ shoe giveaway Monday morning. Courtney Russell and Jerry Ward compare their new pairs.

Clarissa Russell traded her worn out, too-tight, hand-me-down tennis shoes for a brand new pair two sizes bigger.

Her mother hadn’t realized how small her 9-year-old’s shoes were.

“You poor baby, if I had known that, I would have let you run around barefoot,” said her mom, Rebecca Russell.

Yet once the new shoes were on, the old shoes were far from Clarissa’s mind. Smiling, she couldn’t stop staring at her new, comfortable shoes.

Clarissa was one of hundreds who received free shoes Monday at the annual “Soles for Christ” back-to-school shoe giveaway, held at the St. Joseph AFL-CIO community services building.

“I think it is so wonderful that this program exists. It really helps out people like us who can’t afford new shoes,” Ms. Russell said.

The community donated about 750 pairs of shoes this year — about the same number donated last year. Shoes are still available for children today.

Last year, more than 900 children showed up for the shoes, AFL-CIO Executive Director Larry Huston said, so the organization ended up collecting more shoes and raising more money following the giveaway to meet the need.

As Mr. Huston watched the families file in, receive new shoes and leave happy, he said, “It tickles me to death to watch this.”

Ms. Russell, her husband and three children came to St. Joseph three years ago from Alabama as an escape from Hurricane Katrina.

“We came here seeking a better life,” said Ms. Russell, who was born in St. Joseph.

But they didn’t find that. Her husband’s factory jobs at various places didn’t work out. Currently, the family has no income.

The trouble took a toll on the children’s shoes.

Austin Russell, who will soon enter the fifth grade, wore tattered black tennis shoes — a pair he borrowed from a neighbor — to the shoe giveaway. They were better than his previous shoes.

“He was running around in a pair of holey, black dress shoes that were too small,” Ms. Russell said.

Clarissa, who will also enter the fifth grade, and the oldest child, soon-to-be seventh-grader Courtney Russell, were both wearing old hand-me-downs from the neighbors.

The family might move back to Alabama by the start of the school year, Ms. Russell said. Her husband has better work options there.

Wherever they end up, one thing is certain: The kids will walk into their first day of school with shiny new shoes that are just the right size.

For more information on the shoe giveaway, the AFL-CIO is located at 1203 N. Sixth St. and the telephone number is 364-1131.

Nancy Hull can be reached at

nancyhull@npgco.com.