Make a Difference Day

Donate old shoes for Make a Difference Day

Everyone has an old pair of tennis shoes they haven’t worn in a few years that are still lurking in their closets.

For Make a Difference Day, the City of Dublin is holding its annual athletic shoe recycling from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Dublin Community Recreation Center.

“Once the shoes are collected, they are sent to a recycling facility,” Volunteer Administrator Christine Nardecchia said. “Every part of the athletic shoe is put to use.”

The soles are used as soft playground surfacing, and fabric is used as cushioning for under flooring in athletic facilities. The City of Dublin purchases this material for its own soft playground surfacing, and Nike Re-Use A Shoe Program donates some of the reclaimed materials to communities in need throughout U.S.

“We typically collect about 2,000 shoes, but we expect it to increase this year,” Nardecchia said.

Benefits to the community from this shoe collection include preventing waste from traveling to the landfills. In addition, it is a useful tool to learn how to re-use materials.

“Scout troops, school organizations and community groups enjoy the awareness this collection brings with it,” said Nardecchia.  “We provide data, processing information and statistics to everyone who turns in shoes that day.”

“Because of this effort, our City has diverted one ton of waste from our landfills because of this one project,” Nardecchia said. 

The State of Ohio was, in fact, named in one of Ohio’s top ten Make A Difference Day projects in 2007.

Make a Difference Day has been created to celebrate neighbors helping neighbors and was started by USA WEEKEND Magazine in 1992. This day occurs annually every fourth Saturday of October.