Day 91: Planet Aid and My K-Swiss

When I was 11 years old (1974) I got my first pair of K-Swiss tennis shoes. K-Swiss was the first leather tennis shoe and made its debut at Wimbledon with my tennis idol and arguably the best tennis player to ever play the game, Björn Borg. A big strapping blonde-haired Swede (can you guess what I wanted to be?), he won 11 grand-slam tennis titles between 1974 and 1981. Four French open titles and five consecutive Wimbledon titles (tied with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer respectively, who by the way have better designed tennis shoes today). Out he strode with K-Swiss tennis shoes and the rest was history.

Well today I retired a bit of my past when I deposited a pair of all-white K-Swiss tennis shoes into the Planet Aid donation box. Planet Aid is a non-profit organization that collects and sells donated clothes and shoes to support development in impoverished communities around the world. With 11,000 yellow collection boxes in 20 states, Planet Aid recycles 100,000,000 pounds of used clothing and shoes, the equivalent of 254 Boeing 747 Jumbo jets! The clothing, rather than entering a landfill somewhere, is instead bundled and sold to exporters, who then reuse and sell the clothing at affordable prices in the developing world. The proceeds are then used to fund programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where Planet Aid has supported 60 projects in 15 countries to the tune of $60 million. These projects include emergency and disaster relief, health, education, food production, and income generation for some of the world’s most impoverished people. My K-Swiss tennis shoe donation today is a small part of reusing the discarded items from the rich part of the world to help my fellow brethren who did not “win the birth lottery” of the developed world, as Warren Buffet has been quoted as saying. Here are a few of the locations where you can donate:

* 7-11 parking lot on River Road
* Citgo gas station on Westbard Avenue
* Western Market parking lot

Do you own a business? You can host a bin if you have a 3×4 area that is easily accessible for pickup. Click here to learn more. The bins are emptied several times a week.

So my K-Swiss are headed to the developing world. Perhaps a young person will slip them on and begin the journey to Wimbledon or the French Open, or perhaps just have an easier trek to the market. Everything we do makes an impact somewhere. Keep Planet Aid in mind next time something fits a little snug (which happens often to me because I am lucky to live here where food is abundant). According to the latest annual report from the qualified non-profit (IRS 501(c)(3)), 82% of the revenues the charitable organization receives go directly to supporting programs abroad.