Donate unwanted shoes to Rotary North West District’s Shoe Aid campaign

All types of shoes from wellington boots to football boots and everything in between are needed

If you have any good condition shoes – new or used – that you no longer want or need, consider donating them to Rotary North-West District’s Shoe Aid campaign, via The Co-op Store at Rooley Moor Road and the Co-op Funeralcare Homes at Cutgate Precinct and Manchester Road.

Shoes of all types are needed - trainers, football boots, walking and outdoor shoes/boots, wellingtons (men’s, ladies and children), safety footwear, men’s and ladies’ functional shoes, children’s school shoes, children’s outdoor and everyday shoes, slippers, flip flops, anything that is footwear related. Shoe Aid UK even has a stock of roller blades, ice skates, horse riding boots and golf shoes.

The only stipulation is that the shoes to be donated are of good quality and can still be worn. Please take a few moments to have a look at the back of your wardrobe or shoe cupboard to fish out shoes that you no longer use, as shoes are needed for children, women and men.

Between now and mid-November, donations made will be passed to Shoe Aid UK for distribution to those who are affected by footwear poverty across the UK and the world.

Bev Place, the Member Pioneer for the Co-op in Rochdale, said: “I am really pleased that we have been able to get three Co-op locations set up as collection points across Rochdale for the campaign and I will ensure everything that is donated is passed to Shoe Aid UK by the end of November for distribution.

“There are far too many children even today, who are walking to school with holes in their shoes. Donating a pair of shoes can open the door to opportunities and change people’s lives.”

Shoe Aid UK is a charity that sends shoes free of charge to anyone who cannot afford decent footwear for job interviews or new jobs, to take part in sporting activities, or to children to go to schools, both locally in the UK and abroad.

In the UK alone there are over 200,000 homeless people who lack any proper footwear. There are currently 4 million children in the UK wearing shoes that don’t fit them and that are inadequate for their needs. They are wearing shoes with holes letting in the rain, while some are wearing shoes with soles so thin that they might as well not be wearing shoes at all. These ill-fitting shoes not only cause foot problems in later life, but can affect children’s self-esteem, make them targets of bullying and cause isolation. In addition, this can cause them to skip school, thus affecting children’s academic and sporting performance and ultimately their life chances.

Despite the overwhelming need for footwear, over 2 million shoes are discarded into landfill sites every year and many of them have useful life left in them. On average, one pair of shoes take around 100 years to biodegrade.

To date, the charity has donated over half a million shoes to people in the UK and abroad. They have educated over 25,000 pupils in schools across the UK on the importance of recycling and repurposing shoes.