Youth Energy Summit (YES!) teams along with Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center (PWELC) have teamed up with World Wear Project to collect and recycle gently used shoes.
Hunt through your closet and dust off those shoes you no longer wear or your kids have outgrown and donate them. Your donation to the Hutchinson drop box will help all YES! teams raise needed funds as well as give shoes to people who need them in countries like Cameroon, Mozambique, Tanzania, Guatamala, Chile, Honduras and others.
The Southwest Initiative Foundation, located at the corner of State Hwys. 7/22 & 15 in Hutchinson, has a drop box inside the front door and is a collection site for the shoe program. Drop off hours are the same as office hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Be sure to either tie the laces together or use a rubber band to hold the two shoes together as they make the trip through the recycling process.
The YES! program started in 2007 through a partnership with Southwest Initiative Foundation and Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center near Spicer. It’s grown to include new partners, teams and funders, including Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.