June 4, 2014 (Sacramento):  The Sacramento Running Association plans to give away more than 100 pairs of running shoes at its youth track meet Thursday at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento.

The SRA has already donated several hundred pairs of shoes to local school athletic programs and to Hiram Johnson High School’s Family Advocate Program. It plans to give away more shoes to Sacramento inner-city elementary school children Thursday at 3 p.m. with the assistance of Burbank High School athletes and standout SRA runners Shadrack Biwott and Dominique Jackson.

The youth track meet, for Sacramento City Unified School District students in grades 3-6, begins at 3:30 p.m. at Burbank’s state-of-the-art sports complex. The shoe giveaway will take place between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. as students arrive in buses for the track meet.

“We gathered shoes from local runners at a variety of events, including the CIM Expo,” said Scott Abbott, the SRA’s Director of Sponsorship Sales. “We got such a big response at the Expo. You know how runners are: They run a few hundred miles and buy new shoes…95 percent of the shoes are in excellent shape.”

The Sacramento Running Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding ways to encourage people of all ages and abilities to run. The SRA is committed to developing new, quality running events that appeal to a broad variety of runners.

“We are so grateful to SRA for supporting our youth and thrilled that our students will have access to well-made athletic shoes,” said SCUSD Interim Superintendent Dr. Sara Noguchi. “I’m positive having high-quality shoes will inspire our students to reach new levels of health and fitness.”

What: Sacramento Running Association Shoe Giveaway
Where: Luther Burbank Sports Complex, 3500 Florin Road, Sacramento
When:  3 p.m. on Thursday, June 5