The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

UNIONVILLE, MO -- We wear them everyday while walking around.  We don't pay much attention to what is on our feet. But on Friday, students at Putnam County High School went shoeless. The schools Interact Club was hoping to raise money and awareness for kids that have to go without shoes.

The Interact Putnam County Club has challenged all students to pay two dollars to go shoeless for a day. With the two dollars, they get to wear socks. Then they can all challenge a teacher. We have pots for each teacher. Whatever teacher raises the most money, has the option to have their toenails painted, or cash out on the pot,” says Putnam County High School Student Samantha Shipley.

If the winning teacher chooses to cash out, they will match the money raised in their pot and the toe painting throne gets passed onto the teacher with the next highest amount.

Interact says they are aiming for enough money to buy 100 pairs of shoes. The event is a great success, especially for being their first fundraiser. Being able to get the word out about local and world issues is just the start the club says.

“Interact is a way for our students in our school to give back to the community and also the world. Through projects and events that we are all required to do. This is our very first project we have done since we are a totally new club and have only been here for the past two months. So far we have helped out the food pantry and doing this amazing shoeless event. It has gained a lot of awareness to things we can change both in the world and our community,” says Putnam County High School Student Christian Barnez.

By lunch time, the money was tallied up and Mr.Bondy was the winner with $103.95. High school principal, Jeremy Watt wrote a very generous check of $183 creating a three-way tie.  At lunch time, the three teachers that won got their toenails painted.

The students raised a total of $450! That money will be taken to a local store this week to purchase shoes.  That will be combined with the Unionville Rotary Club’s collection of shoes and sent to orphans in Ethiopia and Romania.