There may be Cheetos smudges on the thank-you notes, but the gratitude is sincere.

On Friday night, members of the Dole Middle School cross-country team gathered at the school library for a sleepover before their Saturday meet. Usually, the kids do their homework and then watch a movie before lights out, but this time, they had a lot of thanking to do.

In the past week, people have donated bags and boxes of running shoes and thousands of dollars to the team. Now every kid on the 74-member team has real running shoes. A week ago, some were practicing in slippers.

Now, coach Alan Inaba doesn't have to dig into his wallet to buy breakfast for the kids. In fact, the cross-country team has an account set up by the school that will carry over for years to come.

"One guy who sent a check wrote 'Merry Christmas,' " said Inaba, who held a thick stack of letters in his hand for the kids to read. Many who made donations wrote personal notes to him or to the kids.

"My husband remembers when he couldn't continue playing football because his parents could not afford to buy him shoes," one woman wrote.

Someone else wrote: "I ran cross country from sixth grade all the way through college. I hope the sport and the opportunity you are giving these kids can help them like it did me." One man asked that his check be used to buy shoes not for the best runner, but for the one who works the hardest.

People brought in trash bags full of used running shoes. Some people brought other kinds of shoes. Others cleaned out their closet and brought whatever they found. Inaba says word got out on campus that there were free shoes in his classroom and some girls came by to see if they could go "shopping."

People gave socks, too. At the sleepover, one of Inaba's team members considered a pair of purple-striped tube socks.

"I smelled it," Inaba told her. "It's clean."

In her thank-you note, eighth-grader Leiren Noji wrote about how she can now run without hurting her ankles.

Leiren wears a size 4 adult, a hard-to-find size, especially in a discount shoe store.

Inaba's wife figured out the equivalent in a kids' size and picked out a pair for Leiren.

"With little hearts and stuff on it," Inaba said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not like that," Leiren says. "I'm athletic."

"But do you like your new shoes?" he pressed.

She nodded emphatically, eyes shining. "I love them!"

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.