Earth Day Initiative

Volunteers inspect donations for quality at the Cradles to Crayons Giving Factory.

Shoes can take up to 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill. Many of those shoes could be given a second life by a child in need.

North Shore residents will have an opportunity to do their part on Saturday, April 27 by donating gently worn shoes, boots, and other children’s apparel to Cradles to Crayons Chicago. The local nonprofit is celebrating Earth Day next weekend with several pop-up drop-off locations in the area, including one at the Winnetka Ice Arena.

The items most in need include clothing (sizes newborn to adult medium),

sneakers (sizes newborn to adult size 10), rain jackets and boots (sizes newborn to adult medium and size 10), toys (especially ages 0-12months and 10-12 years), and books (especially ages 0-2 years and 11-12 years).

According to Cradles to Crayons, a national nonprofit with locations in Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia, the average American throws out 82 pounds of textile waste per year—most of which ends up in landfills and produces toxic greenhouse gasses.

By collecting donated items, Cradles to Crayons Chicago provides children from birth through age 12 (many living in homeless or low-income situations) with the essential items they need to thrive— at home, at school, and at play.

The organization supplies these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need, collecting new and like-new children’s items through grassroots community drives and corporate donations.

Donations are processed and packaged by volunteers at warehouses called “Giving Factories” and are distributed to children through a collaborative network of social service agencies and school partners.

Volunteers inspect donations for quality at the Cradles to Crayons Giving Factory.

The Cradles to Crayons Earth Day pop up collection site will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 at the Winnetka Ice Area, 490 Hibbard Road, in Winnetka. For more information about this event or Cradles to Crayons Chicago, visit cradlestocrayons.org.