During the holiday season many businesses, including apartments, host charity events in the spirit of giving back. With the state of the economy some residents may not have extra cash to contribute to many causes this year. Ideal Bite, one of my fav going-green blogs, has a suggested giving back project that I think would be a fun/easy resident project.

Is figuring out what to do with your used kicks a total mystery? Here's a clue: Donate your old footwear to a reuse or recycling program to save landfill space or help out someone in need. Nice work, gumshoe.

The Benefits:

- You'll create less waste while cleaning out your closet - Reuse-A-Shoe alone has kept more than 23 million pairs of shoes out of the dump.
- Every pair helps - gently worn shoes can outfit feet in the developing world, while shabby ones can be made into surfacing for things like tennis courts.

Wanna Try:

- Nike Reuse-A-Shoe - drop off any brand of ratty athletic shoes, and the company'll grind 'em up into surfaces for playgrounds, tennis courts, and tracks.
- Soles4Souls - donate used-but-useable pairs to people in developing countries by dropping your shoes off at a nearby drop spot, or shipping them.
- One World Running - donate near-new athletic shoes to cash-poor sports players.

Do you normally have a giving back project on property during the holidays? Do you know of any other creative ways to contribute this year without much spending out of pocket?

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Elysa Rice is a Marketing Coordinator with Ellipse Communications, Inc. multifamily website & marketing provider.