HELENA — Three Helena kids have new shoes thanks to the "Running For Montana’s Future" program. The program is a partnership between the Helena Police Department and the Angel Fund.
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On Wednesday, Helena Police Department school resource officers delivered three pairs of new sneakers to students at Broadwater Elementary School.
“It’s a really positive experience for us and for the kids,” Helena Police Department SRO Nick Ransom said. “It’s nice to be able to show up to the school and have a positive, non-law enforcement interaction with kids.”
The Running for Montana’s Future program started back in 2010, and since then, it has provided more than 1,500 pairs of shoes to Helena students. This school year alone, the program has given out more than 75 pairs of shoes.
“We service all the schools in the school district with shoes,” Ransom said.
Families or caretakers in need of assistance can submit an application for shoes to their child’s school, and then HPD fulfills the shoe requests at the Shoe Dept. Encore. School resource officers deliver the new shoes to students.
Ransom said the positive interactions during shoe deliveries help set the foundation for a positive relationship between students and SROs.
“We serve as an informal counselor a lot of the time to some of the kids,” Ransom said. “Most of my day at the school is just having conversations with kids.”
For more information about the Running for Montana’s Future program, visit the Angel Fund website. There you will find how to support the program and apply for assistance.