Brooklyn Runner

Photo by doviende.

What to do with used running shoes has become an annual dilemma for me. It’s that time of year when it seems like you need a new pair of shoes every five minutes. Locally, any Jack Rabbit Sports location will accept used shoes for donation. A manager at a store once told me they see to it that the shoes go to needy people, but didn’t elaborate.

Runner’s World has a list of organizations where you can send used shoes, many of which send them on to places where people are truly in need and where a pair of high quality running shoes would make a big difference in someone’s life. My favorites are Hope Runs, a nonprofit working in Kenya and Tanazania that uses athletics, education and social entrepreneurship to empower AIDS orphans, and Shoe4Africa, whose mission is “empowerment through sports and education.”

Please take advantage of an opportunity to be gracious and give out of the wealth that we all possess. Anyone able to own a single pair of running shoes in this country is wealthier than the vast majority of the world’s population.