Soles4Souls!

A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I had found a charity that takes in gently used shoes and monetary donations in order to get shoes to people in the world who desperately need them. 

Soles4Souls,  is a Nashville-based charity that collects, recycles and reuses shoes from warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you.  They then distribute usable shoes to people in need around the world (they recycle less than 2% of donated footwear). Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away nearly 12 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently distributing one pair every 7 seconds). The shoes have been distributed in 125 countries, including Haiti, Kenya, Nepal and the United States. Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages.


It got me thinking...

I have personally wiped out 10 pairs of shoes in training for MyRunAcrossAmerica...and will be brutallizing another 10 pairs once I actually start.  Count em!  20 pairs of Newtons that are pretty wearable actually, but absolutely useless for running.  Other runners and triathletes probably go through 5-8 pairs a year.  The folks I am running with and in contact with make great potential donors for Soles4Souls!  If I come across 1,000 people on this run and each of them can donate 2-3 pairs a year with a few bucks, we could make a difference to someone.

So, I wrote an email to Soles4Souls explaining what I am up to.  I got an immediate response from Jessica Crate, who is a spokesperson for their Active Division...she is part of a team of folks who are trying to interact with fitness related donors.  A few emails and calls ensued. 

Net-net...

I have decided to light up a second charity partner for the run.  We are still working out some of the finer details on what exactly we are going to do...but since there are Soles4Souls drops in nearly every city, there are a lot of opportunities to help spread the word and get donations!  There are shoe drops at many of my stop points,running shops who serve as ambassadors for S4S along the way and several neat ways we can tie this run into them.  Jessica Crate has even offered to run a day with me somewhere along the way...which I thought was a neat offer until I looked at her background and realized I will need a "I Got Chicked Today" t-shirt on that day...she has had quite the running career.

So stay tuned!

You may be wondering what about the support for Freedom is Not Free?   I am still a fervent supporter for this cause and don't see these two charities competing in anyway.  In fact, I hope that the donors each charity attracts bleed over into each other!  Hard to argue that our vets need our support and help!  Also, it is hard to argue that people cannot use your gently used shoes and donations in other parts of the world.   I can get my head around both issues pretty easy.

So, stay tuned for more! 

Only 76 days to go!