If you’re planning to get a new pair of shoes for Christmas or have gently used shoes that you’re not wearing anymore, don’t toss them in the trash.

Daniel Locke, a 2009 WKU graduate, collaborated with a Nashville-based charity organization Soles4Souls to start a shoe donation campaign that will take place until Dec. 19 in Bowling Green.

People can drop off their used shoes at TRAX Running store or at the WKU Book Store on campus for students, Locke said.

“My personal goal is to collect 1,000 pair of shoes,” he said. “However, I would like to get more.”

Locke said at the end of campaign, donated shoes will be delivered to Nashville and then distributed to people in need all around the world.

“We will donate shoes to people in Africa, India and Thailand,” he said. “Anywhere in the world where people need them.”

In Dec. 2009, when visiting Africa on his mission trip, Locke saw the terrible condition of the kids’ feet.

“It broke my heart,” Locke said.

Now he said he encourages all people to donate their shoes, because they can change the conditions of others’ lives.

“It is very easy way to reverse that problem,” Locke said. “Everyone has shoes that they don’t wear.”

Soles4Souls accepts any type of shoe as long as they are new or gently used. Monetary donations are also encouraged. If checks are made out to Soles4Soles, it is a tax deductible donation.

Locke said Joe Wheet, a partner of the TRAX Running store, wanted to get involved in a charity as well. Wheet said people who will drop off their shoes at TRAX Running will get 10 percent off a new shoe purchase.