Glacier student rounding up cleats for athletes in need

When Glacier High School Junior Noah Jensen heard about people losing their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, he wanted to do something to help. With his Paws for Pups program, he hopes to help alleviate the cost for families with youth athletes by providing gently used football cleats to those in need.

As a current football, lacrosse and former soccer player for the Wolfpack, Jensen understands the often overlooked costs associated with youth sports, where proper footwear can cost $100 or more per season.

“COVID has cost a lot of people their jobs. A lot of those families have kids that want to play sports and they may not understand why their parents can’t buy them what they need to play. I’m hoping that this program can help out families facing tough times right now,” Jensen said. “After every sports season I played, I would grow out of the pair of cleats I had been using, so when I saw on the news that people were losing their jobs during the pandemic I thought that helping out families with the cost of sports would be a good way to support the community.”

After considering the idea for two months, Jensen decided to put his plan into action and approached his coaches and teammates for help as well as Kruise Kalispell organizer Monte Klindt of Performance Heating and Air.

“He came in and presented me with a nicely put together business plan and I was very impressed,” Klindt said. I was so impressed with him and his desire to give back to his community that I had to help.”

For Klindt, who played youth sports as a kid, the idea behind Jensen’s program makes a lot of sense.

“I was raised by a single mother who had three boys who all played sports. It was a real sacrifice for her to buy us cleats every year for sports, so his project really hit home for me,” he said. “I am really proud of him and what he is trying to do and I want to do all I can to help out.

As the Wolfpack prepares to host its annual football camp next week, Jensen says he hopes to have enough cleats on hand to start handing them out to kids at the camp Monday.

Jensen is asking for donations of gently used (two seasons of use or less) cleats on Saturday as he will have a donation station set up in front of the Tire-Rama, 1555 U.S. 93 S. in Kalispell during the Kruise Kalispell event 3 p.m. Cleats of all sizes are needed. For those who cannot make it Saturday, donations are also being accepted at Performance Heating and Air.

While the first distribution of the cleats will take place at the Glacier High School football camp, Jensen hopes to expand the program to include Flathead High School in the near future.

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com.