Donating Your Used Sneakers Will Bring Multiple Benefits

In early 2022, Assistance League of Northern Virginia began a partnership with GotSneakers.com, which compensates nonprofit organizations for the new and gently worn athletic shoes they collect. Assistance League now has a new section on its website that describes this fundraising effort in detail.

The amount the nonprofit receives 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. The funds earned from this effort are used to help local children and their families. Assistance League is very grateful to all who have donated sneakers and notes for future donors that it only accepts 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 collected 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 you donate not only help Assistance League, they help the planet by keeping them out of landfills.

In the past year, the nonprofit has collected nearly 2900 pairs of sneakers, of which about 1600 were usable and 1300 were recycled. Several businesses, sports clubs, and members have drop boxes to collect sneakers. Assistance League invites additional businesses to collect sneakers for the program. If interested, contact: fairfax.chantilly@alnv.org for information on how you can help.

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

https://www.assistanceleague.org/northern-virginia/alnv-activities

Read more about this program at: www.gotsneakers.com.