Monday, April 4, 2011

One Day Without Shoes

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days...

Last year's One Day Without Shoes...with my fellow Youth for Christers.

Okay, so maybe it is a little bit due to the fact that I am somewhat of a hippie at heart, but mostly I love it because it is a day to raise awareness about the 300 million children around the world who do not own a single pair of shoes, and the health hazards that accompany that.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 5, 2011) is One Day Without Shoes. A day that you get to walk around barefoot as much as possible, get tons of crazy looks from people, and share with them about the children who go without everyday, and how they can help.

One Day Without Shoes is hosted by Tom's Shoes, a for profit company who gives away a pair of shoes to a child in need for every single pair that is purchased. Tom's Shoes also partners with Compassion International, which, if you've been around here very long, you know it is one of my favorite and most respected organizations on planet earth.

If you would like to join us tomorrow, below are some of the facts you will need to know, as well as ways to help.

The Facts (why shoes are a big deal):
*A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.

*Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.


*Many times children can’t attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don’t have shoes, they don’t go to school. If they don’t receive an education, they don’t have the opportunity to realize their potential. (taken from http://blog.compassion.com/join-us-for-one-day-without-shoes/)
* According to Samaritan's Feet, approximately one million people die each year due to diseases, parasites, and infections caused by lack of shoes.

Ways to help (awesome organizations who help provide shoes for children in need):

Tom's Shoes- matches pair for pair- one pair of shoes is given away for each pair purchased.

Samaritan's' Feet- blesses people around the world through washing their feet and then providing them with a new pair of shoes.

Shoes for Kids- started by a kid for kids...providing shoes with the love of Christ to children around the world.


The feetsies of some of my Zim kids (they all have shoes now, incase you were wondering :)
I feel privileged to be a voice for kids around the world, and I hope that you will take this opportunity to speak up as well!

Have you ever gone One Day Without? Do you plan on going One Day Without tomorrow? Any great, funny, or just plain embarrassing One Day Without stories to share? Here is my experience from last year's One Day Without Shoes.



4 comments:

Jess Elyse said...

Love love love love!

:-)

And yes, I did go barefoot. ;-)

Jill Foley said...

We didn't spend a whole day without shoes, but I'm assuming you saw our experience as we walked around the block. When I did this, I was doing it for Shoes for Kids. I was pleasantly surprised to learn there was another event for Toms - and that they are a partner with Compassion!

Shebecomes said...

Jess- I think you are awesome, but you already knew that :)

Jill- Yes, I di see your experience. I think I had maybe heard of Shoes for Kids, but hadn't checked them out until your post. So you are the reason I included them in my list of orgs :)

Unknown said...

Because I work with the public in a fairly formal office setting, I found myself trying to hide my feet, which kind of defeats the purpose!

Thankfully I did get to talk to 3 people about TOMS, Compassion and the millions of people out there without shoes. I also got a few comments in the following days from people who didn't see me but saw my blog posts: http://goo.gl/59awm

I think there were two people in my entire town that did it, me and one of my YG girls. We didn't get to do it together but we hung out on twitter :)