Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 48.61
Liaison Kristina Bryan
Submission Date Feb. 26, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Saint Louis University
IN-4: Innovation 4

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Yvonne McCool
Grant Development Specialist
School of Nursing
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Title or keywords related to the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Battle for the Boot

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:

The Battle for the Boot is a friendly shoe collection challenge amongst colleges and universities in the St. Louis area, in which Saint Louis University (SLU) founded through its Staff Advisory Committee, with the help of Shoeman Water Projects (now Solea Water). The Battle for the Boot has been a friendly competition; SLU has participating in for the past three years, all of which SLU has won. This year, we are taking it to the next level, the St. Louis Higher Education Sustainability Consortium is coordinating the battle amongst a total five higher education institutions across the St. Louis region.

All shoes collected support Solea Water; a locally owned nonprofit institution. Solea Water sells the donated shoes to a distributor who ships them to developing countries enabling people who might not be able to afford new shoes to buy shoes at a reduced price. The funds received from the shoes help Solea Water bring clean drinking water to developing countries, and their focus currently includes Haiti, Panama and Guatemala. This donation program touches each dimension of sustainability by diverting our shoes from the landfill, helping to financially support the infrastructure of water purification processes and creating better lives for people living in countries like Haiti, Panama and Guatemala.


A brief description of any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation (if not reported above):

Since the challenge has begun, the St. Louis Higher Education Institutions have donated 33,000 lbs of shoes (Saint Louis University with 17,617 lbs). This means over 30,000 people would have received shoes who could otherwise not afford shoes. In 2012 and 2013, funds raised helped purchase 2 tanks and 2 purifiers for Haiti.


A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise:
Which of the following STARS subcategories does the innovation most closely relate to? (Select all that apply up to a maximum of five):
Yes or No
Curriculum No
Research No
Campus Engagement Yes
Public Engagement Yes
Air & Climate No
Buildings No
Dining Services No
Energy No
Grounds No
Purchasing No
Transportation No
Waste Yes
Water Yes
Coordination, Planning & Governance No
Diversity & Affordability No
Health, Wellbeing & Work Yes
Investment No

Other topic(s) that the innovation relates to that are not listed above:
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The website URL where information about the innovation is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.