Shoes for Haiti: Something I Suggested To Mary Wittenberg

We are all saddened by the devastation in Haiti and our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.

Mary Wittenberg, CEO of New York Road Runners Tweeted the following this morning "can hardly breathe thinking about Haiti. we r sending race tshirts & supplies. Will keep you posted on how we can help runners help."

I thought about this for a minute and suggested back in a Tweet that with the Manhattan Half Marathon coming up on January 24, a drop box should be set up at the race site where old running shoes, t-shirts, and other items can be collected and sent to Haiti. A bunch of fellow runner-Tweeters liked the idea as well. As of this writing, Ms. Wittenberg has not replied to back to me.

So my suggestion is this:
1) If you live in the New York City area, please send a Tweet to Ms. Wittenberg (@mary_witt) and to New York Road Runners (@nyrr_daily), post something on NYRR's Facebook page, and send an e-mail (webmaster@nyrr.org.) to NYRR. Maybe if enough people contact NYRR, our collective voices will be heard and we'll see a box where we can donate not only old shoes, but old race shirts, and other items that are taking up space in our closets can be dropped off and donated to the relief effort.

2) If you live outside of the New York City area, by all means, feel free to contact NYRR, especially if you've ever lived in NYC, ran in NYC, or ran the New York City Marathon. If you are running a race in the next few weeks, please reach out to the race director and suggest setting up a box where donations can be dropped off.

Lastly, help me spread the word by re-posting this on your blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.