Donate Shoes for Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami Victims

has joined the non-profit Soles4Souls to donate slightly used footwear to victims of Japan's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

Starting last Friday, customers may drop off barely used shoes at any of Sport Chalet's 55 stores, said David Hacker, director of marketing for La Cañada-based Sports Chalet. All donations will directly support relief efforts. The collection runs until April 10th.

"It's the least we can do, and really, we're just a conduit for the goodwill of our customers,'' Hacker said.

He asks customers to please duct tape or somehow tie the pairs together, to facilitate getting the shoes to the people who need them. And if people have more than 500 pairs to donate - and that happened when the store collected shoes for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake - please call 818-359-3295 for drop-off information.

Sports Chalet helped collect 1.3 million shoes during the Haiti aftermath, Hacker said, noting he is not putting a goal on this collection because "Every pair is one more than we had the day before.''

Sports Chalet has a location in Arcadia at , 400 S. Baldwin Avenue, 626-446-8955. The hours of operation are Mon - Fri, 9:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.; Sat, 9 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.; Sun, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.