Members of the Calvin Softball team recently helped Grand Rapids Public Schools kick off the school year by outfitting students with new pairs of tennis shoes.

In the Image, a local Grand Rapids Non-Profit, runs a back-to-school shoe drive each year to provide thousands of Grand Rapids Public School students a new pair of tennis shoes. Now in its 23rd year, the shoe drive hosted by In the Image includes donations from several community partners.

Students and their families come to the In The Image store at 1823 S. Division Avenue. Volunteers then measure their foot size, and talk with them about their favorite color or style while bringing out several options from the stock room. The Grand Rapids Public School students try on all the options and make their choice. The students leave with a new pair of shoes and can also pick out a book from the library-area and stop at the coloring station to color a replica of their new shoe.

Calvin head softball coach Becky Hilgert stated that the partnership with In the Image began a year ago.

"Last summer Assistant Coach Ryan Ganzevoort and his wife Kim volunteered during the shoe drive and found the experience very rewarding," said Hilgert. "After hearing about their experience, Ryan and I thought this would be a great way for our players to serve the community especially with several studying in the education field. Since Calvin classes haven't started yet and our out-of-state players are not yet back on campus, we were unable to have our full team participate. However, our local upperclassmen were thrilled to spend a few hours representing our program and giving back to the community. It was great to see so many smiles on the faces of the young kids we interacted with and our team is already talking about participating again next year."

For more information on In the Image, visit the organization's website at: https://www.intheimage.org

Story provided by Calvin University athletics.

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