Young students at Monroe Elementary School cheered as they opened shoe boxes on Wednesday morning.
Starting with TK-kindergarten, each and every student at Monroe received a shiny new pair of kicks. It was all thanks to national nonprofit Shoes That Fit, partnering with Santa Barbara Steps Up for Monroe, a fundraiser created by longtime Shoes That Fit supporters and Santa Barbara residents Liisa and Andrew Primack.
Shoes That Fit was founded about 30 years ago in Claremont, starting with a teacher, Elodie McGuirk, who recognized that students were coming to class with shoes that were too small, or broken or full of holes, explained Liisa Primack, who moved from Claremont to Santa Barbara in 2021.