Shoe Drive -

Donate Your Shoes - Reduce Waste Stream - Help Someone in Need

MAEOE and Soles4Souls are teaming up at this year's conference with an easy way to help reduce the strain on our environment: donate your "gently worn" footwear to people in need instead of throwing them away. Last year alone, Americans discarded more than 300 million pairs of shoes. When these shoes break down in our landfills, the toxic glue that holds the shoes together can leak into our water supply and atmosphere.

Soles4Souls will clean the shoes and ship them to needy people around the world, who will treasure the gift for years to come. Since its inception following the Asian tsunami, Soles4Souls has distributed over 4 million pairs to people in 125 countries, and our efforts have been publicized in thousands of articles, including the Green Guide by National Geographic and Runner's World.

Rocky Gap Lodge - Flinstone

February 4-7, 2010

Western Maryland Research and Education Center - Keedysville

February 4, 2010

Frostburg State University - Frostburg

February 4-5, 2010

2010 Conference Shoe Collection Notes:

MAEOE asks that you include $1.00 for each pair of shoes donated to cover the costs associated with shipping the shoes to one of Soles4Souls distribution centers where the shoes are cleaned and shipped to their final destination. Thank You.

About Soles4Souls:

Soles4Souls facilitates the donations of shoes, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Shoe companies, retailers, and individuals can donate footwear (both new and used). Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS, and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages.

The idea behind gifts of shoes is nothing new to the Soles4Souls team, as they coordinated relief efforts for the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, netting over 1 Million pairs donated for these disasters. The team originally operated as www.katrinashoes.org with several churches partnering in the collection and distribution of footwear.