Yearly Report

It’s been a busy year with a lot of growth! We expanded our student led shoe drives to include more student teams at different Bay Area schools and ReLace was in the news.

Our success at San Francisco Day School inspired us to expand to more schools and recruit volunteers—ReLace Reps! We organized a shoe drive at Lick-Wilmerding High School and mentored middle school students at San Francisco Day School, Burke’s, and Live Oak School to run their own school shoe drives.  We are so proud of our new ReLace Reps!

As we grew, ReLace attracted more media attention and followers. We were featured on the front page of the Noe Valley Voice and on Dr. Adriko’s SF Day podcast! Also, ReLace received more inquiries about partnerships. We now have a presence in Marin. Check out our drop off site at the REI at Corte Madera!

In 2025, ReLace collected 1,422 pairs of shoes (77% increase from last year), served 749 families and children with new shoes (102% increase from last year), and displaced 42,660 pounds of CO2 emissions (77% increase from last year).

After streamlining our operations at California Tennis Club, we decided to expand! ReLace added drop off sites at two gyms, DIAKADI and CrossFit Alinea. 

We also wanted to educate our peers and school community about the impact of shoe waste on the environment and provide them with an opportunity to take action. With the support of the SF Day’s leadership team, ReLace hosted its first school shoe drive! It was a huge success and is paving the way for future models to do more with larger collections!

As we collected shoes, we noticed a large number of shoes were brand new and sometimes still in the original box! We realized that these shoes were able to be donated! We researched local service organizations who may benefit from these shoes and connected with Compass Family Services. Compass is a 100+ year old San Francisco nonprofit helping families experiencing homelessness. By partnering with Compass, ReLace donates shoes directly to local families and kids in need. ReLace expanded its mission to not just protect the environment, but to also help our community.

In 2024, ReLace collected 832 pairs of shoes, served 158 families and children with new shoes and displaced 24,960 pounds of CO2 emissions.

ReLace officially launched as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit! As middle school students, we were inspired to start ReLace to protect our environment and fight shoe waste. ReLace partnered with California Tennis Club to create its first shoe drop off site. In 2023, ReLace collected 256 pairs of shoes and displaced 7,680 pounds of CO2 emissions.