Old sneakers, sandals, cleats, boots, flip flops and heels no longer have to collect dust in the back of the closet, thanks to the Soles4Souls shoe drive Penn State club sports started this week.

"We take so many daily comforts for granted, and if you could just think of how many shoes you have at school -- there are people who don't have any," coordinator K. Ellis F. Mair (senior-kinesiology) said.

Soles4Souls is a charity that collects any type of shoes in any condition and redistributes them to people in need domestically and internationally, Mair said.

Club sports will be running a shoe drive for the organization through Dec. 16.

Along with the donation of shoes, Mair is asking for

$2 to help cover shipping costs. Shoes should be rubberbanded and dropped off at pick-up locations in the

White Building, Rec Hall and the East Area Locker Rooms.

Club sports interns Mair and Carly Maconaghy (junior-human development and family studies) said they wanted to do something more than a food drive as a community service project.

"It's unique, pretty cool, and everyone has extra shoes lying around," Maconaghy said. "It's pretty cheap and easy to run. We thought we'd try it out."

For the project to count for club sports, one-third of club members must donate at least one pair of shoes.

Out of the 72 clubs, Maconaghy said a few had confirmed they would participate so far, and she expects more to join.

There are roughly 4,000 club sports athletes at Penn State, Mair said, but she encourages everyone to donate.

Mair also contacted friend and campus TOMS shoes representative Jamie Cox (junior-supply chain management), because of his involvement on the tennis team, to see if he could help get varsity athletics on board for the drive.

Cox said his interest in shoes as a charity sprung from a conversation with a friend at home, which led him to do more research on the topic.

Many people in the world's poorer regions don't own shoes, he said, and soil-transmitted diseases like podoconiosis, which affect less affluent nations, are totally preventable with proper footwear.

Mair said a large campus of students could have a big impact on poverty-stricken areas.

"We have pretty lofty expectations," Mair said. "It's not a hard thing to do."

She predicted the hardest part of donating for students would be the $2 for shipping, but added giving shoes away is better than tossing them in a landfill.

Cox agreed -- most students have so many pairs of shoes, and giving one away could help save a life, he said.

"It's weird to think ... we're not even allowed to go into a store without shoes, and there are people that have to live every day without them," he said.