In early 2022, we began a partnership with GotSneakers.com, which compensates nonprofit organizations for the new and gently worn athletic shoes they collect.  We have a new section on our website that describes this fund-raising effort in detail.

The amount we receive depends on the brand, quality, style, and condition of the shoes.  Shoes in good condition garner higher payment and are distributed to people needing shoes who couldn’t otherwise afford such footwear.  We use the funds earned from this effort to help local children and their families.  We are very grateful to all who have donated sneakers and remind future donors that we only accept PAIRS of athletic shoes, and cannot use dress shoes, casual nonathletic shoes, such as crocs, flip-flops, etc., or shoes with metal cleats.

This program has several other positive effects besides fundraising.  Athletic shoes are made with materials that are not biodegradable, so most end up in landfills or are incinerated.  The usable shoes we collect go to those who need them; heavily used or damaged shoes are recycled either to reuse the materials or convert them to new energy.  So, the athletic shoes we collect not only help our chapter, they help the planet by keeping them out of landfills.

In the past year, we’ve collected nearly 2900 pairs of sneakers, of which about 1600 were usable and 1300 were recycled.  Several businesses, sports clubs, and our members have drop boxes to collect sneakers.

We invite additional businesses to collect sneakers for us.  If interested, contact:  fairfax.chantilly@alnv.org to receive information about you can help.

For details about the program, the brands and types of sneakers that GotSneakers prefers, and the locations of our collection boxes, scan the QR code on the flyer or use this link to the new section on our website: