The James Hansen Memorial School Shoe Fund actually had its’ beginning more than 40 years ago.  At the suggestion of Stan Berentsen, principal of Emerson School, some of the PTA mothers started bringing children’s outgrown clothing to school for children who might need them.  This continued for several years, until the Assistance League of Everett, who operated Operation School Bell, invited us to join with them.  Since they had facilities and contacts much larger than ours, we accepted.  To this day, they are doing a fabulous job of helping children in the surrounding school districts.

However, they could not handle the need for shoes so we agreed to take care of that problem.  About this time, the minister of the Baptist Church handed Marian Berge, who was Community/Volunteer Coordinator for the Snohomish School District, $25.00 and told her to use it for shoes for the kids (shoes were much cheaper in those days)!

For the next few years St. Hilda’s of the Episcopal Church donated $200.00 a year to this shoe fund.  As the program became known we received contributions from many sources-other churches, service clubs, PTA groups, neighborhood clubs, and individuals.

In 1983, a popular teacher at Central School, James Hansen, died.  He and his wife, Helen, had been strong supporters of the shoe fund, and Helen gave us a generous bequest in Jim’s memory.  We had recently applied to the IRS for non-profit status, which we received.  At this time, we formally renamed the project the James Hansen Memorial School Shoe Fund.

In the succeeding years, the program has consistently been very successful because of continued support.  Every dollar contributed to the Shoe Fund goes to the cost of the shoes for the kids in our community.  Incidental expenses (such as mileage, postage, etc.) have always been absorbed by our wonderful volunteers!