Healthy Lombard to hold shoe drive

A shoe collection drive to raise money for the Healthy Lombard Foundation is being held Friday, April 15, through Tuesday, June 14.

Donations of gently worn and new shoes will be accepted. The amount of money raised is determined by the number of shoes collected.

All donated shoes will be redistributed to microenterprise partners through Funds2Orgs, a for-profit social enterprise, and used in developing nations for impoverished people to start their own businesses.

In the United States alone, roughly 630 million pairs of shoes are thrown away per year. The materials used to manufacture a pair of shoes are created from chemical compounds that will create health hazards if left to disintegrate openly or in landfills. By donating your gently worn used and new shoes, your shoes are given a second chance to make a difference.

Collection sites include: Inland Bank on Westmore in Lombard; HealthTrack Sports Wellness on Roosevelt Road in Glen Ellyn; Helen Plum Memorial Library in Lombard; Jewel/Osco on Main Street in Lombard; Lexington Square of Lombard; LiNiTo Cycle, Lombard; Lombard Park District (Sunset Knoll and Lombard Commons buildings); Olympia Chiropractic and Physical Therapy on York Road in Elmhurst; Revolution Physical Therapy and Weight Loss on Roosevelt Road in Glen Ellyn; Schroder's ACE Hardware on Westmore in Lombard; Lombard village hall; and York Township Center on Westmore in Lombard.

Since March 2009, Healthy Lombard has inspired and motivated kids to develop healthy lifetime habits, as well as encouraging a healthier lifestyle for everyone.

For more information, check out the Shoe Drive Page on the Healthy Lombard website www.healthylombard.com.