Helping People

Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; you have fed him for a lifetime ~ Author unknown.

The GreenSneakers program is a uniquely effective program that helps fund local charity but ultimatley impacts people in need around the world. By making used tennis shoes available as affordable footwear in developing countries, GreenSneakers engages in enhancing economic development opportunities through job creation and sustainability both domestically and abroad.

"The Mitumba industry (used clothing and shoes) in Africa is feeding a lot of mouths" says Geofrey Milonge a mitumba trader. Estimates are the mitumba trade employs some 30,000 people. Proponents of Mitumba point out that the clothing is beneficial in that it stimulates economic activity and allows people with limited means to afford clothing.

Geofrey Milonge runs a T-shirt stall near the center of the Manzese market. Geofrey arrived from the countryside more than 10 years ago, hoping to escape the rural village in the interior. Today, he is a mitumba trade success story, having started out on the sidewalk with just a single 50-kilo bale of clothing per month, which he had purchased on credit.

Geofrey buys and sells about 100 bales of clothing per month and runs three mitumba stalls in the Manzese market. His T-shirt stall is neatly laid out, with hundreds of T-shirts lining the walls on hangers. Geofrey sells between 10 and 50 T-shirts per day, usually for between $0.50 and $1.50. Almost all of Geofrey's T-shirts are from America.

When you participate in a GreenSneakers fund raiser, you're doing more than helping a local charity, you're providing the opportunity for economic prosperity to some of the poorest people on the planet through reuse.