Dad Collects Used Cleats for Inner-City Athletes
Hunterdon County Democrat
By Ray Henry, May 25, 2000
HIGH BRIDGE – When Rob Walther found his son’s and daughter’s baseball cleats in his garage, he made a common discovery: the children had outgrown the shoes. Then he had an uncommon idea.
Instead of discarding the cleats, the High Bridge man decided to start an athletic gear collection drive and donate the equipment to an inner-city charity. For a low-income family, purchasing athletic equipment can be a burden.
“There’s a lot of excess value in what I saw in my own garage,” he said. “They go one season in these shoes. You’re talking $50 to $75 in local stores.”
Mr. Walther, a High Bridge recreation basketball coach, hopes to acquire the mailing lists of local North Hunterdon athletes and send out fliers advertising the drive, tentatively called “Cleats for Kids.”
Children who donate will benefit from the program, Mr. Walther said. “It would be great for the kids to know they’re helping another kid,” he said.
In addition to helping needy athletes, the equipment drive satisfies a class requirement for Mr. Walther, who is enrolled in the Landmark Education leadership seminar. Landmark Education is a for-profit educational service. Mr. Walther signed up for the “empowerment” course in December and said it changed his outlook on community service.
“The empowerment is that one person can enroll the community to make the world a better place,” he said.
Eventually, Mr. Walther wants local sporting goods stores to participate in the drive, possibly by offering discounts to those who turn in an old pair of cleats before purchasing new ones. Although the original intent of the program was to collect cleats, no usable athletic gear will be turned away.
Currently, he has set a collection goal of 500 pairs of athletic shoes by July 24. The collected equipment will be transported to Brook Warehousing Systems in Bridgewater, which employs Mr. Walther.
The New Community Corporation of Newark will facilitate the distribution of any collected gear from the Bridgewater warehouse. The corporation is a $300 million nonprofit organization that provides job training and housing and runs medical clinics.
Ideally, the drive will become a year-round operation most active before the start of the baseball, basketball, football and soccer seasons, just when parents realize their child’s old cleats no longer fit, Mr. Walther said.
Those interested in donating can contact Mr. Walther at work, 725-4343, or at home, 638-6425. Or bring the equipment to the Hunterdon County Democrat’s office at 18 Minneakoning Road, Raritan Township. Mr. Walther asks that cleats be put in a shoebox with the size written on the exterior.
Reprinted from the Hunterdon County Democrat, May 25, 2000.