One Day Without Shoes

By Sarah Davy ~ TOMS is an international shoe company that was founded in 2006 by American traveler Blake Mycoskie. He discovered that in Argentina, the children had no shoes to protect their feet. He wanted to help, so he created the shoe company called TOMS Shoes, a company that matches every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes for a child in need. Their motto is One for One.

Thanks to all TOMS wearers, as of September 2010, TOMS has given over one million new pairs of shoes to children in need all over the world. This number continues to rise. To raise awareness, April 10th is One Day Without Shoes day. It is a worldwide event and Morningside students decided to take part in it.  This day is used to raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life.

Samantha Hansen and Allie Harris organized this campus event. Samantha said she “hoped this event would make Morningside students put their lives into prospective and realize how important shoes are.”

The participants gathered shoeless on the ‘M’ this afternoon to take a group picture. After being asked what Allie thought about the event, she replied, “I hope students become aware that not everyone is lucky enough to have shoes.”

Many people ask, why shoes? Many children in developing countries such as Argentina grow up without shoes and must walk everywhere barefoot. This not only is unhealthy, but many times children cannot attend school because they are not wearing shoes. It is required as a part of the curriculum in some countries.