Finding
Mutual Benefit

After we discovered an often overlooked NCAA bylaw, which allows nonprofits to donate gear and equipment from colleges to high school students, I reached out to my alma mater, Princeton, to gauge their interest in finding a good purpose for their unused footwear. To my surprise, the Princeton Track and Field Program had nearly a decade’s worth of never-been-used track spikes and running shoes that it was happy to donate to the Tracksmith Foundation. This served as the basis for our pilot shoe donations events.

Our inaugural donation event was in the summer of 2022 in my hometown of Philly, where I was able to give unused track spikes and running shoes to high school-aged student athletes in the community. Being able to give back to the community that raised me was personally very significant. After seeing the difference we were able to help make with young athletes in Philly, I knew that I wanted to have this kind of impact, not only in my hometown, but in other cities across the country. So for the summer of 2023, we expanded the program by holding events in Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Chicago.

Impact by
the Numbers

Despite the curveballs presented by each location, the Foundation successfully produced four events across the U.S., distributing around 1,5000 pairs of spikes and training shoes to 400 high school student-athletes in low-income neighborhoods. Not only does this program provide high school students with high quality gear for training and competing, but it also serves as a tangible representation of the college athletic opportunities to which they aspire.

Intangible Impact
with Young Athletes

In addition to providing shoes to the student-athletes at each event, I gave a brief talk about my personal journey with the sport and how track and field can be used as a tool to provide access to educational opportunity. Even if they didn’t have plans on running track in college, the sport has the ability to provide the kinds of lessons that can benefit in many other areas of life. I encouraged them to recognize that they already possess the ability to create a future that they want for themselves, whether that be on the track, in the classroom, or just in general. It was important to me that each student walk away from the events not only with a pair of track spikes, but with the inspiration to achieve as well.