Fox Chapel Garden Club gives new life to 3,000 shoes through Nike program

More than 3,000 shoes collected by Fox Chapel Garden Club will find new life.

The fundraiser, in its 18th year, diverts new and gently worn shoes from landfills and repurposes some for a second life with people in need.

Garden Club member Christine Bennett said the initiative is win-win for the community.

Run through the national Reuse-A-Shoe effort by Nike, the program was founded in 1990 and has recycled 28 million shoes.

In the Fox Chapel Area, club members distribute 24 collection boxes at libraries, schools and gyms. Shoes are shipped to Nike and ground up to be used for surfaces at running tracks and playgrounds.

“This year, the group sent 36 boxes of shoes to Nike,” Bennett said.

Shoes that still had life left in them — 280 pairs in all — were sent to Second Harvest and The Free Store in Braddock.

“We were thrilled to receive the shoes,” said Bonnie DeMotte, executive director of Second Harvest Thrift Store in Sharpsburg. “We turn your donated goods into community good.”

The store along Clay Street uses proceeds to reinvest in the community through jobs, gift cards to those in need and a free food program.

Earlier this month, Girl Scouts from several local troops joined the Garden Club members at Cooper-Siegel Community Library to sort and box the donations.

Bennett said she hopes the young girls take away a sense of responsibility for the environment, along with the fun of organizing a project and working together.

“There is a real pride in packing (those) boxes of shoes to ship,” she said.