Monday, June 1, 2009

"Soles For Souls" - Donate Your Old Pair

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those old shoes in your closet? You know, those old bridesmaid shoes that you wore just once. Those pairs that are worn, torn and outdated? And those shoes that you just can't seem to part with though you haven't worn them in years?

Well, individuals and groups can now dedicate their shoes (all year long) to the worthy cause of providing shoes to those in need--locally and globally. You can drop off your old pairs at a participating shoe retailer (e.g. selected New Balance and 9 West stores)...and if the cause isn't incentive enough, many of the retailers will give you a discount for shoes in their store in exchange for your donation.

And still yet, if celebrity influence is what gets you going folks like Rachel Ray, Jessica Alba and Sharon Stone have already made their donations. Here's where some of your shoes go....
In the U.S.: Women's Shelters, Children's Camps, Inner City Hospitals, Homeless Shelters, Disaster Relief

Globally: Orphanages, Women's Villages and those who mine the Landfills in Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

They even give ideas and opportunities for churches to get involved. I don't think that they said "dedicate one day to walk as Jesus did--barefoot" but...they did suggest having a shoe fast or shoe drive or something like that.

How to Participate?
On the mainland you can find a drop off location near you, type in your zip code on this page. Hawaii stores are not yet participating, but residents can ship their shoes to these addresses.

Also see: www.soles4souls.org. In fact today, June 1-7 is the organization's "Barefoot Week"


2 comments:

Saul Goode said...

If your athletic shoes are too trashed to donate, there is a collection bin at the entrance of most Nike stores. Your stinky, funky shoes are ground up and recycled into padding to use for playgrounds. Much better than the hard asphalt that our bones were subjected to when we were kids. Athletic shoes only, no dress shoes or shoes with metal.

Here's a link to find the Nike store closest to you.

http://niketown-locator.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/niketown_locator.cfg/php/loc/enduser/loc.php

mainlandgal said...

Awesome tip!

In Honolulu, the Niketown store on Kalakaua Ave closed its doors yesterday after being an 11 year anchor in Waikiki. Do check the link for other Mainland and Hawaii locations.