Putting Those Old Kicks To Good Use

Runners generally find themselves buying lots of pairs of shoes - the more miles you put on em, the sooner (and more often) you need a new pair. Eventually those shoes can stack up if you arent finding a good way to get rid of the old ones when you bring home your shiny new ones.

As I try to clean up some of the old stuff around my house, I found about 5 pairs of old running shoes. And as I havent been running ... not a single pair of them has gotten any love in months.

At the beginning of the summer I mentioned that Nike has a program to recycle shoes, but I just got a list of a ton of other sources from Runners World that I thought I would share!

Soles4Souls
Shoe companies, retailers, and individuals can donate footwear both new and used to those in need around the world. Soles4Souls has coordinated relief efforts for the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike, netting over 1 Million pairs donated for these disasters.

Hope Runs
Hope Runs is a non-profit group working in Kenya and Tanzania, using athletics, education, and social entrepreneurship to empower AIDS orphans. They accept donations, including running shoes.

Shoe4Africa
Shoe4Africa is a charitable organization whose mission is "empowerment through sports and education, creating unique health initiatives, and promoting Aids awareness."

Nike Reuse-A-Shoe
Grinds your old running shoes into material that makes athletics and playground surfaces.

One World Running
Since 1986, a group of runners in Boulder, Colorado, has collected, washed and sent to Third World countries new and "near-new" athletic shoes along with other athletic equipment.

The Shoe Bank
Founded in 1989, the Shoe Bank provides shoes for twenty thousand people every year - primarily children, both here and abroad.

Heart and Sole
Provides new and gently used shoes to the poorest of the world's people. Since the project began in 1999, more than 6,000 pairs of shoes have been shipped around the world.

Warren Striders Track Club, Inc.
Provides running shoes to local and area low/moderate income families who often are unable to purchase adequate running shoes to their children.

Sole Responsibility
A non-profit organization formed by a group of runners in Ottawa, Canada who donate gently used running and walking shoes overseas.