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COOL AID

Surprising ways to give back

You live to give, regularly donating canned food, old books and your fair share of hideous clothing all in the name of being charitable. (It was only a tad embarrassing when the Salvation Army turned down your sequined leotard.) But how about your frequent-flier miles? Or your old wine corks? Here, a few surprising things you can, and totally should, donate:

	Scuzzy sneakers No, nobody wants to wear your stinky old kicks. But when you donate them to Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program, they’ll be melted down and used to build a track, basketball court or playground. Share:

	Unwanted crayons Got a bunch of crayons you want to unload? Send them to this national recycling program, which repurposes them as--what else?--brand-new crayons. Share:

	Wine corks Yemm & Hart Green Materials andReCork are two companies that will accept your unwanted corks (no judgement about how many you have) and turn them into flooring tiles, building insulation and even automotive gaskets. Share:

	Frequent-flier miles We know you worked hard to earn them, but donating your frequent-flier rewards is really, well, rewarding. A handful of airlines will let you give your miles to places like the American Cancer Society (to enable patients to travel to treatment facilities), the Make-a-Wish Foundation (to give the gift of Disney World) and the Red Cross (to fly volunteers to disaster sites). Share:

	Credit-card rewards Credit-card companies likeAmerica Express, Chase and Capital One have finally caught on to the fact that we don’t all want to redeem our points for big-screen TVs. Instead, turn your points into much-needed cash for disaster-relief organizations and other worthy nonprofits. You knew you were charging all those lattes for a reason. Share: