Soles for Souls is Hyderabad Runners’ initiative to donate shoes and footwear to those in need of them. Originally launched along with the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon in 2013, this has now become an all-year-long initiative of Hyderabad Runners.
A large percentage of people in our city continue to face the need for appropriate footwear that they don’t have access to. As more runners joined our community, and the conversation about shoes was a regular feature at all our meet-ups, the idea of donating shoes struck us. We realized that by donating the good quality shoes that we no longer use is a great way of giving back to the city that we strongly have an association for.
We have partnered with a few nonprofit organisations and schools with whose help we distribute these footwears whenever the need arises. Since 2013, we have donated over 10000 shoes as part of the Soles for Souls campaign.
How we collect?
We set up a Soles for Souls stall at the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon Expo for our annual collection drive. Apart from this, we also do all-year collections with the help of the Hyderabad Runners community and other volunteers. Sometimes the organisations we are partnered with send us specific requests, which we then fulfill with the help of our community.
How can you help?
You can be part of this initiative by setting up collection points at your institution, office or residential complex and coordinate dropping it off with us. We insist that the footwear collected should be in a good reusable condition. We also insist that shoes be washed and cleaned before they are given for donation. If you have difficulty assessing this, think about it like this – would you wear those footwear if you borrowed it from someone? If the answer is a yes, then yes, we will accept it too.
For more information about our Soles for Souls initiative, drop us a line at soles4souls@marathonhyderabad.com.