STUDENTS at the Makoura College Service Academy can now put their best foot forward after a Masterton sportswear retailer gave them about $5000 worth of training shoes yesterday.
Matt Spooner, director of Shoe Clinic Masterton, said he had donated 28 pairs of shoes, some barely used, that had accumulated at the shop after speaking with academy director Rima Marurai about the needs of about half-a-dozen of his students, who had no training footwear at all.
Mr Spooner said the collection of footwear comprised cross-trainers, runners, walkers and casual shoes and the donation "was a way the shoes could be used for the good of the community".
He said the shoes were together worth about $5000 and most were top-of-the-line models, some of which would usually sell new for close to $300 a pair.
Mr Marurai said the gift from the Masterton store would allow the present crop of 20 academy students to be better equipped for their chosen programmes, which were often far more physically demanding than usual study and class work.
