SIOUX FALLS – Getting a pair of shoes and a couple of pairs of socks as a Christmas gift doesn’t sound as exciting as getting a new video game or dolls from “Frozen.”

But for Gabe, a kindergartner at Lowell Elementary School, a new pair of shoes that fit and some socks were the greatest gift he could get—and give to his mother.

“This is so great,” a beaming Gabe exclaimed. “Now my mother won’t have to worry about having money for Christmas. This will help her so much.”

With that, Gabe tore off his old shoes and socks, grabbed a pair of white socks that came to his knees and put on a new pair of sneakers.

“My mother doesn’t have any money,” Gabe said. “She doesn’t have a job anymore.”

While other recipients were less effusive about getting shoes and socks, most expressed thanks and a few surprise that someone would come in unannounced and give them free shoes.

That someone last Friday was Dr. Donna Osment, the facility administrator at Davita, an international dialysis provider that has a clinic in Sioux Falls. Through the organization Shoes That Fit, Davita was paired with Lowell Elementary and 28 children in need of new shoes. Then, Osment’s fellow administrators in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Sioux City donated the shoes.

Osment was Santa’s elf who delivered the shoes and helped fit the children with their new kicks.

This was the second year that Davita gave students shoes at Lowell Elementary. The school gave Davita the names of children, like Gabe, who needed shoes. At last year’s fitting, Osment noticed the children didn’t need just need new shoes but new socks as well.

“And just spending that little bit of time with the kids, some of the kids had socks that were horrible, some of them didn’t even have socks,” Osment said. “It humbles you to realize you have things that many other children don’t have. And a simple pair of socks made these kids very happy”

For Osment, the satisfaction comes from seeing the kids enjoy their new shoes.

“The time with the kids and seeing the kids smile, that they were happy, with not a toy or something other than what we take for granted is having shoes and socks,” Osment said.

For more information about the Shoes That Fit program, go to shoesthatfit.org.
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