Project Donate A Shoe

While running during weekend road races in Metro Manila for the past year, I've seen a lot of runners who were wearing old and tattered shoes. I've seen more runners with old and worn-out running shoes when I joined the 2008 Pasig River Heritage Marathon. Due to this observation, I posted my four (4) pairs of running shoes in my blog with Wordpress to show my readers that I was donating them.

This gave me the idea to appeal to my readers to donate their old and used running shoes to my project and have these shoes given to the less-fortunate runners who could not afford to change/replace their shoes to a better one.

After posting to my blog the pictures of runners whom I've donated my running shoes and posting the pictures of their old and worn-out shoes, my project gave the public an awareness that there are more people who keeps on running without having the benefit of replacing their old shoes. This resulted to people/runners coming to me personally after road races to donate their shoes and more are leaving their comments to my blog about their intention of donating their old shoes.

If I can remember it right, this project started at the middle of second quarter of last year and it became a success. A tarpaulin background was made and it is always a "fixture" at the vicinity of the start/finish area in every road race in Metro Manila. Later, this acceptance "booth" became the meeting place of runner-bloggers and visitors to my blog. More of the affluent runners and those who believe to share their blessings to other runners started to support this project. Some did not want their names to be known and their faces and pictures to be posted in my blog but donated shoes kept pouring in to my booth and at the same time give the donated shoes to the needy ones. VIP runners or well-known executives and owners of big corporations would come to my booth and remove their shoes for donation.

This project extended all the way to other runners across the seas who gave their time and effort to send "Balikbayan" boxes filled with donated shoes. Other foreign runners would also join our road races and later donate their old shoes, too! Some commenters to my blog at Wordpress would also leave notes of their plan of donating their used and slightly-used shoes.
So far, I've have collected/received and donated at least 120+ "used" running shoes since I started this project.

As a gesture of my thanks to these donors, I usually give a "ONE" (white) wristband (http://www.one.org/) to each donor to signify that he/she is a part and supporter of the world-wide advocacy "to fight poverty and make it a history". I have these wristbands ordered in the United States at a cost of $ 1.00 a piece.