Local Mud Run Donates Shoes To Haiti

The Battlegrounds at Cedar Lake, the Midwest’s only permanent mud run obstacle course, recently held its fifth bi-annual race and collected nearly 400 pairs of shoes for a worthwhile charity.

The Battlegrounds teamed up with Barrel Aid, which partners with the non-profit Mission-Haiti.org to supply clean shoes, fresh water, food and schooling for more than 1,600 unserved children in Southern Haiti.

Barrel Aid attends mud races from around the country and collects donated shoes, which are laundered and transported in barrels to Mission Haiti in Ti-Rivier. After the shoes have been distributed, Barrel Aid’s barrels are fitted with an easy-to-use gutter in order to capture clean rain water for drinking and cooking.

Barrel Aid donates all of the broken and unusable shoes to TerraCycle, which refurbishes them for people in the U.S. For every 25 pounds of recycled shoes they receive from Barrel Aid, 10¢ is donated to Mission Haiti.

“Our shoe donation gets bigger at every race thanks to the help of our dedicated mud runners,” said Carl Bolm, owner of The Battlegrounds and Cedar Lake Cellars. “We enjoy partnering with Barrel Aid and making a difference in the lives of these children.”

The Battlegrounds is located at 950 State Highway 00 in Wright City, Mo. next to Cedar Lake Cellars winery and event center. The mud run is held on the first weekends in May and October. For more information, call Bob Holm at (314) 569-3005 or visit the website at www.thebattlegrounds.com.