Back to School Shoe program returns to Fostoria

FOSTORIA — Next month, the Kiwanis Club of Fostoria is hosting their annual Back to School Shoe program in partnership with Pantry Plus of Seneca County, Shoe Sensation and Hope Lutheran Church. Registration for the program will take place on July 20 and 22, where families with school-age children who need financial assistance can pick up shoe vouchers to redeem in August. To qualify, families must live in the 44330 zip code and present a proof of residence, as well as a valid form of ID. As for income guidelines, the event will follow the same scale as Pantry Plus — $23,539 annual income for a household of one, $31,859 for two, $40,179 for three and $48,499 for four. Additional income guidelines are available on the Pantry Plus website. The registration days will take place on the green space at the corner of Main and Tiffin streets in downtown Fostoria. On Tuesday, July 20, the event will run from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. On Thursday, July 22, it will go from 2:30-5:30 p.m. In the event of rain, registration will move across the street to Pantry Plus, 115 S. Main St. According to Libra Martin, program coordinator at First Call for Help Fostoria, the shoe program has increased in popularity in recent years. In the past, the program benefited 80-100 children. Since then, the number has nearly tripled. In 2019, about 200 children received shoes; in 2020, the number jumped to 228. "The goal for this year is 260," Martin said. Despite the pandemic, the show went on last year. "We were able to work with the Seneca County Health District to make sure that our program was running alongside the CDC guidelines, as well as Seneca County guidelines," Martin said. First Call for Help is a local agency that provides community members with information and resources for assistance in all matters, including financial ones. They also organized the shoe program, in partnership with the Kiwanis Club. The shoes are provided by Shoe Sensation, which will bring a truckload of shoes to Fostoria in early August. This is Kiwanis' third year working with Shoe Sensation for the event — before that, they partnered with K-Mart, but the Fostoria location has since closed. After the children with vouchers pick out their shoes, there will be an event on August 12 for other community members to come purchase any shoes left over. That event will run from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. If more shoes are still left after that, they'll go back to Shoe Sensation. "We wanted to have the community come in since there's no shoe store in Fostoria," Martin said.