ROCKINGHAM — Around 60 Richmond County students walked into J.C. Penney Thursday morning and walked out with new shoes.
They were just a portion of the more than 700 schoolchildren who have received or will receive a pair of kicks just before the holidays, courtesy of First Presbyterian Church’s New Shoes for Christmas Fund, according to a Facebook post from Richmond County Schools.
The church has been providing shoe vouchers for kids for several years.
This year, the little green cards could be redeemed at J.C. Penney or The Shoe Department.
The second busload of students on Thursday was from Fairview Heights Elementary.
Each child was assisted by a sales associate to find the brand, style and color they liked best.
The department store had a table set up so the kids could write letters to Santa while they waited their turn.
Some picked Converse, others picked Nike and a few left wearing Arizona boots after checking out.
The store served around 80 students on Wednesday, according to Cashier Supervisor Alexis McCullough.
Thursday was the second of four days of the annual event.
See more photos and video at the bottom of this post.
