WILTON – Five hundred local area kids are kicking off the school year right this week, thanks to a partnership that donated sneakers for distribution through regional programs.
Molina Healthcare provided the funds for the sneakers, partnering with the New Balance Foundation to get a discount on 500 pairs of children’s sized shoes. It’s the fifth year of the program, with Augusta-based Molina targeting a different region each year.
“We try to maximize it each year,” Doug Smith, director of Molina Medicaid Solutions, said Friday, as Molina employees mingled with Western Maine Community Action staff near stacks of cardboard shoe boxes. “We know it’s hard for people to buy things like new shoes.”
Molina reached out to WMCA, asking if the organization could come up with a list of shoe recipients and help with distribution. Katherine Lary, the WMCA program director for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, said that WMCA got the request with a few weeks to spare last spring. WMCA staff from a number of different programs worked to develop a list through the WIC program, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Western Maine Homeless Outreach and the FedCap employment program. Two weeks ago, Lary said, WMCA learned the shoes would be arriving. WMCA’s Danielle Flannery organized robocalls for the list of shoe recipients, organizing two shoe pick-up events this weekend and dropping off more shoes at Rumford and Mexico elementary schools.
Kids could try on their new shoes, with some exchanges available. Other shoes could be sent back if they didn’t fit, Lary noted.
Molina Healthcare is involved in the community in other ways. Through the Community Champions program, organizers of nonprofit efforts are awarded money and materials for their programs. Last year, Richard and Glendalyn Hargreaves, members of the New Vineyard Library Association’s board, were recognized for securing grant funding and spearheading a fundraising campaign to expand the library building in 2014. Molina provided the library with several boxes of new books.
