Members of the Boys & Girls Club and other local children went home with pairs of free shoes on Thursday, Jan. 22, courtesy of the Shoes That Fit program.
“It’s been a fabulous program,” said Jodi MacDonald, chair of the local program, which is put on by Rogue Gateway Rotary. “We’ve been doing it for four years now. We’ve touched a lot of kids’ lives. We’ve given out shoes at Evergreen [Elementary], and in Williams.”
For this giveaway at the Boys & Girls Club in Kerby, a team of volunteers had gathered 164 pairs of brand new shoes ranging in size to fit toddlers to the largest of teenager feet. Organizers were expecting about 30 kids to show up for the event this time around, with the unclaimed shoes to be rolled over into more giveaways to come.
Families in the Boys & GIrls Club from across the Illinois Valley participate in the program. Teachers take the time to trace students’ feet and determine their shoe size, and MacDonald said that the program targets the most at-risk kids to receive shoes.
Valerie Lovelace, the 2025-26 President of Rogue Gateway Rotary, a Rotary Club chapter based in Grants Pass, said that money for the program comes partially from Rotary member dues, which are returned to the club in the form of a grant, and the cost is split 50/50 between the local club and the regional Rotary district, which covers much of Oregon and parts of Northern California.
The Boys & Girls Club building in Kerby, long known as the “Belt Building” as a satellite campus of Rogue Community College, was given to the Boys & Girls Club by the college in 2022. The Boys & Girls Club offers after-school and summer programs across the Illinois Valley and Southern Oregon.