When Major Kris Potter, of the Renton Salvation Army, got new shoes as a kid, he thought he could run faster, jump higher and do just about anything better. With a recent shoe giveaway to the center’s after school program, he’s hoping the kids feel the same way.

“That’s what we’re hoping is that these kids just explode in life and do well,” he said.

Volunteer Silvana Clark arranged for her former employer Soles4Souls to donate about 74 pairs of new shoes to the Salvation Army’s after school program.

Clark and her husband Allan are from Bellingham, but have been in the Renton area for the past two months trying to sell her father’s home and in the mean time volunteering. They’re both retired.

Silvana is a motivational speaker and the author of 12 books on parenting, crafting and marketing. She and her husband traveled around the United States for three years giving away shoes with Soles4Souls and now help out with serving lunches, reading and crafting with kids in the Salvation Army’s after-school program.

“So because you have free time, you think, ‘Hey,’ you need to be able to give and we have certain skills and talents and we see a need,” said Silvana. “Why not come down and help out if we can.”

The Salvation Army is in desperate need of tutors and volunteers for their after school program. A program that is free to parents and has 54 registered children it sees on a weekly basis.

“A lot of the children we have are from low-income families, who participate with their children here,” said Kimmberly Baxter, youth department director. “We have a handful or more of children, who receive our weekend backpacks.”

She’s referring to a program to feed children during the weekend with a backpack full of food.

Her goal is to get 90 to 100 percent of the kids’ homework done before they get picked up from the center.

“As a mom, who was a single mom for a while, if you pick your child up you don’t have to struggle to get that homework done while you’re cooking dinner and everything else,” Baxter said.

In groups of four the kids in the after-school program excitedly shoot into the room containing their new shoes. The shoes are all different kinds from Toms to New Balance to Keens. The kids discard their old shoes and try the new ones on.

“Maybe there’s a metaphor here in that the shoes will help them to keep walking forward in their education, in their behavior and community and in life to do well,” said Potter.

For more information about free shoe donations, visit soles4souls.com.