Running Wild donates over 250 pairs of shoes to Painted Hills Middle School

Running Wild – a local store in Downtown Palm Springs – donated over 250 pairs of shoes and socks to Painted Hills Middle School on Monday morning valued at over $30,000.

The shoe store partnered with Coachella Valley has Sole, a local organization that collects gently used shoes from Running Wild, the Birkenstock store and from shoe drives across the Valley.

Once donated, Coachella Valley has Sole cleans the shoes and donates them to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission.

The owners of Coachella Valley has Sole, Judy and Mike Wexler, said they were excited to be apart of such an important donation to a local middle school.

"We are so excited," Judy said. "The kids, for sports, they definitely need shoes and we can help their families."

Donald Kick, the owner of Running Wild, said it's been great to work with Coachella Valley has Sole and to be able to collect the over 250 shoes.

"We've just been helping [Coachella Valley has Sole] as much as we can," Kick said. "It's great to see them go to the school and to the students, and folks who need the shoes. So for us, it's a big plus."

"We've talked to Don for years about doing a big donation, and he's had these sneakers put away for overstock for awhile now," Judy said. "And [Don] just wanted to do one big donation, so we've sort of saved and planned it out, and today's the big day. We are so excited."

Heather Dillenburg, a sixth grade science and math teacher at Painted Hills, said these shoes will be more than beneficial as many students and families do not have the means for athletic shoes. Whether they'll be used for sports or every day wear, Von Dillenburg says students at Painted Mills will be beyond excited about the donation.

"When this opportunity came and Don was willing to donate to our school, they asked if our school or our community could use something like that," Dillenburg said. "And I sort of jumped at the opportunity because these are students that maybe wouldn't be able to go out for the basketball team or can't run the mile – well, they try in their Crocs – so, it's really great."