Montclair Food Pantry: Destroying Nike Gear? Donate It Instead

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Are you planning to destroy your Nike gear in protest of the company’s ad campaign featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick? You can show your opposition and help a neighbor at the same time, a Montclair food pantry says.

On Thursday, the Human Needs Food Pantry of Montclair said that it will take donations of unwanted shoes, clothes or other Nike apparel.

Many people have been destroying their Nike gear after the apparel maker announced that Kaepernick, who touched off a national controversy by kneeling during the National Anthem to bring awareness to racial injustice, would be one of the faces of its "Just Do It" 30th anniversary campaign.

• See related article: Colin Kaepernick In Nike 'Just Do It' Ad: What People Are Saying

According to the Montclair-based nonprofit:

“The latest controversy involving Nike's decision to use Colin Kaepernick in their advertisements has been all over the news. In response, social media is inundated with people burning their Nike products as a form of protest. If you are among those who feel the need to protest in that manner, please think about donating them to us instead so we can provide them to people in need. You can still stand behind your opinion but turn your protest into a positive thing for a struggling neighbor in need. The Human Needs Food Pantry does not endorse either side of this issue but would like to offer an alternative to destroying clothing and footwear items that others are in need of.”

The food pantry offered the following story as an example of the need for shoes and clothes, no matter what name is on the label:

"On one of the coldest, snowy days we had last winter, an older lady walked into the food pantry wearing a shoe on one foot and a glove stuck over the other one. Thankfully, we had some donated shoes in her size which we were able to give her. Let your heart decide whether your perfectly good footwear should be donated to help others or destroyed in a parking lot somewhere."

For more information about how to make a donation to the Human Needs Food Pantry, click here.

The food pantry's Facebook post set off a spirited debate in the comments section. Many people applauded the spirit and pragmatism of the suggestion... but others said that it defeats the entire point of their protest against Nike.

Seen online:

• "Finally someone talking common sense!"
• "The point of the protest is to hurt Nike. By recycling to someone else does not do that. It just further promotes the brand. You paid for them, wear them but rip off or cover up the logo then never buy them again."
• "The idea of burning expensive clothes and shoes over politics is simply wasteful. If you don't want to wear Nike products anymore, give them to someone who may feel differently and actually needs them."
• "Sneakers should be [destroyed] at the Franklin Steakhouse in the parking lot but not given to the pantry... what you're saying is... it’s ok to give to pantry they have nothing so their opinion doesn’t count... if [pantries] wanted the sneakers they could post something themselves saying don’t destroy them we will pick up or you can drop off."
• "No one would force people at the pantry to wear anything they didn’t want to. It would be like if I had a gift certificate to your restaurant but decided out of protest, I didn’t want to go there. The money on the certificate is spent it doesn’t hurt the restaurant either way. I can either be selfish and tear up the certificate which proves nothing to anyone or I could donate it to someone else who could use a meal."

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