Soles4Souls Launches Shoe Drive at Nashville's Country Music Marathon

NASHVILLE, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Soles4Souls) - Nashville-based charity Soles4Souls Inc., the global organization dedicated to providing free footwear to people in need all over the world, announced today that they are conducting a shoe drive at the Country Music Marathon (April 28, 2007) in order to receive shoes from the runners for the charity's Million Pair March campaign.

The Million Pair March campaign is dedicated to raising 1 million dollars to ship 1 million pairs of shoes to the Sudan and the surrounding areas. Soles4Souls volunteers will be at the Health and Fitness Expo (at the Nashville Convention Center), giving out brochures and information on how people can get involved with the charity.

Soles4Souls will be manning drop boxes and the Soles4Souls delivery truck will be at the finish line of the Marathon so that runners and spectators may donate their shoes to this worthy cause. Soles4Souls is asking people to each donate one pair of new or 'gently worn' shoes and/or money for shipping the shoes to the Sudan, a notoriously poverty- and war-stricken area of the world. The first drop is scheduled for Fall 2007 in the refugee camps of Southern Sudan, with more to follow.

"We are thrilled to be participating in the Country Music Marathon because our charity's headquarters are in Nashville, and bringing this campaign home to Tennessee is especially exciting. We look forward to cheering on the runners and hopefully receiving their worn shoes to help others who are not as fortunate," said Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. "We would also like to thank Elite Racing (the marathon's promoters), which has graciously given us space to reach out to the running community," Elsey said.

The Million Pair March has already been endorsed by some of Hollywood's finest, including Don Cheadle, Jessica Alba, Melissa Rivers, and Scarlett Johansson, who graciously had Reebok donate 2,000 pairs of shoes in her name to the cause.

Elsey said that marathons are becoming increasingly important events for the charity. "The running community at large is incredibly generous and mindful of problems around the world. This is another way they can give back to people in need, and our job is to make that an easy decision by being accessible and responsible," he said.