The Corpus Christi Citizens Police Academy Alumni (CCCPAA) are collecting shoes from all walks of life.
“Worn, used, hopefully gently used,” said Marta Sprout, president of the CCCPAA.
Shoes donated throughout the month of May will be sold by the pound to a company called Funds2Orgs, and the money made will help buy equipment for the Corpus Christi Police Department.
“Things that the budget doesn’t cover,” said Sprout.
Sprout says the money is used to buy safety equipment, knives for graduating cadets, and in previous years it’s helped purchase K9 officers.
“We also have bought special flashlights that they can clip on their shoulder uniform and that means when they’re in their unit they don’t have to turn on their dome light so they still have peripherals,” said Sprout. “It’s a safety thing.”
Not only do you get to help keep shoes from clogging up landfills, but all the shoes donated will be sent off to impoverished areas around the world.
The shoes will go to what Sprout calls “micro-entrepreneurs”.
“These are individual business men who will take these shoes and they’ll clean them and they’ll polish them and then they’ll resell them to support their families and communities,” said Sprout. “It’s this wonderful dignified way of helping someone because it’s not a handout it’s a hand up.
Currently there are 10 locations in the Corpus Christi area you can go drop off your shoes.
IBC Banks – Calallen, Everhart, Flour bluff, shoreline, Staples
Texas Bridge Credit Union
Chemcel Federal Credit Union
Mary Grett Transition Center
CC Animal Care services
Natural Grocers
Fuzzy’s Taco Shop
Discount Tire
Padre Island POA
Peoples Restaurant
Annaville Muffler & Automotive
For more information you can visit the CCCPAA’s Facebook page.