With MKC program, needy students take home new boots
Staff report
AUSTINTOWN
Twenty-eight Austintown Elementary School pupils tried on and took home new boots Monday provided by nonprofit Project MKC, formerly known as Making Kids Count, as part of its Best Foot Forward program.
The third annual program this year received $23,500 to give boots and socks to needy kids in area schools.
“When the program is all said and done, we will have distributed over 650 pairs of brand new, made-in-USA boots and socks to students in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties,” said Jana Coffin, MKC co-president.
MKC offers the program to schools with more than 45 percent of students on free or reduced-lunch programs, she said. Schools can get up to 30 referrals for free Kamik-brand boots, depending on their enrollment, she said. The schools’ guidance counselors select the recipient students, she said.
“Our students were so excited to get new winter boots,” said counselor Kelley Mills. “This is why we are so lucky to have such a wonderful partnership with Project MKC and thankful to the Italian Scholarship Foundation for funding the Best Foot Forward boot program. “This is just one example of the many ways that Project MKC helps our Austintown students and families.”
This year, MKC provided boots to children in 42 schools in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, she said.
“There’s a lot of kids who needed these. ... The kids were elated,” Coffin said. “Some of them came and were really upset, and they were skipping down the hallway in their boots after trying them on.”