Keep the Midlands Beautiful is hosting a shoe drive fundraiser from April 1 – June 30 to raise funds to support its mission to engage, inspire and educate the Midlands to invest in the community through litter prevention, recycling, and beautification.
KMB will earn money based on the total weight of the gently worn, used and new shoes collected. Those dollars will benefit its core programs by allowing them to purchase additional work gloves and litter grabbers for volunteers to conduct more litter pickups.
Anyone can help by dropping off gently worn, used and new shoes at KMB’s office at 1305 Augusta Road, West Columbia or 3 Lexington County Collection and Recycling Centers– Distant Lane, Chapin; Bush River Rd., Columbia; and Ball Park Rd., Lexington, and the Greater Cayce West Columbia Chamber of Commerce at 1006 12th St, Cayce.
Check out KMB’s website for other drop-off locations. If your local business, church, or neighborhood would like to host a collection bin for your employees, congregations, and neighbors contact KMB at 803-733-1139 or [email protected].
All donated shoes will be redistributed throughout the Funds2Orgs network of micro-enterprise partners. Funds2Orgs works with micro-entrepreneurs in helping them create, maintain and grow small businesses in developing countries where economic opportunity and jobs are limited. Proceeds from the sales of the shoes collected in shoe drive fundraisers are used to feed, clothe, and house their families.
“The spring is a wonderful time to clean out closets.” said Laura Blake-Orr, Core Programs Administrator. “We know that most people have extra shoes they will never wear again and would like to donate to us. By doing so, we keep shoes out of the landfill, raise money to support our programs, and we have the chance to help families in developing nations who need economic opportunities.”
