KAHULUI, Maui — Kahului Elementary School students have received a gift of rubber slippers.

St. Theresa Church priest Monsignor Terry Watanabe and his aunt, Leona Rocha-Wilson, asked parishioners for slipper donations after hearing about the school’s need.

Churchgoers responded by donating three large black garbage bags filled with the footwear.

Sixty-five percent of the school’s children receive free and reduced price meal benefits. Many wear broken slippers held together by duct tape.

Principal Fern Markgraf told The Maui News student slippers frequently break and the school runs out of spares.

Markgraf says it’s no longer acceptable for kids to have bare feet like in the olden days, and they must wear something on their feet for safety reasons.