Metro released its commemorative SmarTrip for the 2017 inauguration today. (Photo courtesy of WMATA)

Metro released its commemorative SmarTrip for the 2017 inauguration last month. (Photo courtesy of WMATA)

A local non-profit is asking people to donate their SmarTrip cards to District residents who need them. They’re specifically targeting out-of-towners who came to D.C. for inauguration weekend and would otherwise throw the cards away.

Martha’s Table, which offers a variety of services to low-income residents, wrote in a Facebook post that the cards “can make a big difference for someone trying to get to a job interview or a medical appointment.”

When Metro unveiled its commemorative inauguration SmarTrip card last month, it was devoid of images of President Donald Trump.

Martha’s Table spokesperson Ryan Palmer says the idea for collecting SmarTrips came about last week when a supporter asked if someone could use a card, “and it kind of picked up speed over the weekend.”

While they’ve only collected a handful of SmarTrips at this point, a lot of people have called in to say that cards are on the way, Palmer says. They can be dropped off or mailed to 2114 14th Street NW. And it’s helpful to include a post-it note with the card’s balance, according to the Facebook post.

Palmer says that some people have collected between 1,200 to 2,000 cards to donate. It’s a “show of goodwill that people would want to leave something behind” in D.C., she continues.

Metro recorded 570,000 trips on Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day. And the transit system counted 1,001,616 total trips on Saturday, the day of the Women’s March, which marked the second-busiest day for the rail system ever.

Depending on how many cards are collected, Martha’s Table will distribute the cards to people who benefit from its emergency food and clothing programs at both its U Street Corridor and Anacostia locations.

And another D.C. non-profit, Miriam’s Kitchen, announced on Facebook that it is collecting the SmarTrip cards as well.

This post has been updated.

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