More than 10,000 Womens March and inauguration attendees have donated their unused Metro cards

[bigtree]

Link to tweet

More than 10,000 Women’s March and inauguration attendees have donated their unused Metro cards

Hundreds of thousands of people traveled to the nation’s capital last month for the inauguration and Women’s March on Washington. In the weeks since they’ve left, more than 10,000 visitors have donated Metro fare cards to local charities that might have otherwise been discarded.

The idea to collect leftover SmarTrip cards started before Inauguration Day with a Maryland woman who participated in the Women’s March. Hilary Moore Hebert, 35, purchased dozens of the plastic cards and mailed them to a friend who was attending with a bus full of women from New Orleans.

Metro no longer sells disposable paper fare cards, and instead requires customers to purchase $2 plastic cards, with at least $8 preloaded.

Hebert asked her friend whether cards with a remaining balance could be returned to her, then posted to a Facebook group inquiring where to donate them.

People immediately chimed in, and word spread quickly: After the Women’s March, volunteers who learned of the Facebook efforts went to Union Station and the main charter bus parking lot at RFK Stadium to collect cards from people as they left Washington.

In all, more than 10,000 cards have been donated to the venerable D.C. charity Martha’s Table. Hebert said she is still receiving about 1,000 cards each week in the mail at her Maryland horse farm. She said donations have come from all over the country, including Hawaii. She is donating them to a handful of charities across the region.


read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/more-than-10000-womens-march-and-inauguration-attendees-have-donated-their-unused-metro-cards/2017/02/10/8dd12404-efc8-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.5e409f079dd0

[jmg257]

1. Sweet idea...we ordered a couple but they came late and we couldn't use them. Done!

[Bengus81]

2. Fantastic.....I know Trump,it's FAKE Metro cards with no value.

[Croney]

3. We have two with small balances just sitting on the windowsill.

I hated to throw them out. I just need to find the address for mailing now.