West End Students Receive New Shoes

The halls of West End Elementary School were full of smiling kids showing off their new shoes Monday morning.

Each year, the Ride for M.A.C (Mission Action Challenge), a bike ride and 5K, sponsored by Easley First Baptist Church and 5 Point Church, raises money for children both here in Pickens County and abroad.

Owen Robertson with M.A.C said funds are used to provide area children with shoes.

“We pick a school and offer to put new shoes on all the kids who want them or need them,” Robertson said.

Mission Action Challenge teams up with Greenville's New Balance Shoes and Fleet Feet Sports.

On Monday, 245 children received new shoes.

“We did half of the school last fall,” Robertson said. “We weren't sure if we could afford to do the entire school, so we did half of the school last fall, thinking that we'd do the second half this coming fall. But New Balance cut us such a good deal this time around, we were able to do the second half of the schools.

Robertson said West End Elementary is the largest schools Mission Action Challenge has given shoes to so far.

He says it's wonderful to see the kids' reaction when they receive their new shoes.

“To see their eyes light up, to see the new shoes come on, we give them a new pair of socks, put those shoes on them,” Robertson said. “If they're young enough, we love to have them jump up and down and run, to see if those shoes fit. That smile on their face and how happy they are – it's wonderful.

“They tell us that there's nothing like a new pair of shoes to lift your spirits, make you feel better about yourself.”

The organization came together through “a bunch of guys who like to ride bicycles.”

“Every fall, they get together, start off in downtown Easley and ride up to the top of Caesar's Head and then back down,” Robertson said. “It's quite a bike ride. The people who love it, they love to do it every single year.”

Funds raised through the Ride for M.A.C. are also given to Hope Unlimited, a mission that helps Brazilian street kids.

“We try to have a global and a local focus,” Robertson said.

Robertson oversees the shoe distribution and the volunteers each year, but he says he always tries to “put shoes on at least one kid” himself.

“There's nothing like getting down on your knees and serving, by looking up, to remind you that we're all in this life together,” he said. “It's a wonderful way to bless people in the name of God.”

Mission Action Challenge is going forward in honor of Mac Lawton, who passed away earlier this year.

“He was a wonderful, wonderful guy,” Robertson said. “The ride was initially named after him, although it means Mission Action Challenge because he wouldn't let it be named just after him. He was a wonderful Christian and philanthropist. Mac and (Lawton's wife) Patty have spent a long time working with different organizations and different kids.

Robertson said Lawton spearheaded the 567 Club in Easley.

“It's a group of men who come in to mentor troubled teens, especially middle-schoolers,” he said. “They get together every single Tuesday and play basketball in our gymnasium, they have some kind of dinner together and then they have Bible study and chat about life.”

Mission Action Challenge donated 11 pairs of shoes to the 567 Club recently.

Last year, Lawton was awarded the Order of the Silver Crescent.

“Mac Lawton, a wonderful, wonderful guy, you can never say enough about him,” Robertson said. “A spiritual giant.”