Leadership Grads Give 300 Pairs of Shoes to Hilltop Students

Nearly 300 children at Hilltop Elementary School in Glen Burnie have new shoes as the result of efforts by Leadership Anne Arundel Flagship program graduates.

Learning that many young students were wearing ill-fitting or inappropriate shoes to school, a six-member Leadership group launched a drive to buy footwear for the children. Principal Louise DeJesu and school staff measured the children’s feet, the shoes were purchased and recently delivered, to the delight of the new owners.

“We found that teachers were buying shoes for some students who came to school with sandals in cold weather or didn’t have sneakers for gym class,” said Tracy Hall, Howard Bank Vice President and one of the project’s organizers.

Hall, Howard Bank’s Business Banking Relationship Manger in Annapolis, and fellow Leadership 2014 graduates, Diane Sancillo with the Hospice of the Chesapeake, Loise Novochadlo with Center of Help, Kelley McNey with McNey and Company, June Hoehl with Eagle Alliance, and Leigh Rand with Fast Signs, were energized by the plight of the children and spread the word. Howard Bank employees chipped in to buy several dozen pairs of shoes, and Hall and the other organizers, helped raise money from Leadership grads, their friends and business associates to purchase the rest.

Now Hall is working to create a non-profit organization, Walk a Mile in the Shoes of a Child, to receive funds, so the project will continue in the years to come. To donate, send a check to Walk a Mile, c/o Tracy Hall, Howard Bank, 1997 Annapolis Exchange Pkwy, Suite 140, Annapolis, MD, 21401. Contact her at thall@howardbank.com.