Thursday, April 16, 2009 » Students will walk a mile around campus barefoot tonight in order to raise awareness for children worldwide who do not have shoes.
The walk is in part with TOMS Shoes' "One Day Without Shoes," a nationwide event encouraging college kids to know what it's like to live barefoot. According to the TOMS Shoes' Web site, children in developing nations have to walk miles to get to school or work without shoes and can contract diseases through their unprotected feet.
"[The diseases are] completely preventable by wearing shoes," said TOMS Shoes campus representative Alyssa Redman (so). The walk will give the participating students a chance to know what many children go through.
Some students are spending the entire day walking without shoes to further promote the cause.
"I'm trying ... to let people know that these [children] don't have shoes and there's something you can do about it," said Redman.
TOMS Shoes, the company sponsoring the event, is a nonprofit that creates and sells shoes. For every pair sold, another pair is sent to a children in need across the world, according to its Web site.
The organization started after its founder, Blake Mycoskie, traveled to Argentina and saw children in need of shoes. TOMS Shoes are, as a result, designed after the typical Argentine shoe, the Web site stated.
Ally Roth (fr) discovered TOMS Shoes after her boyfriend's sister bought a pair off TOMSShoes.com. Right away she bought a pair, and after learning the cause behind them, she bought two more.
"It's a cool way for students to get involved," Roth said. "If you think about it, [TOMS] are basically the same price as a pair of tennis shoes and they last a really long time and they're really comfortable."
Because Indiana Wesleyan University is participating in "One Day Without Shoes," students can receive a $5 discount off a pair of TOMS Shoes using the purchase code CAMPUSINDYWU at TOMSShoes.com.
"If you're going to pay the same price for [a] pair of shoes, then you might as well pay the same price for two of them and give the other one to a child in need," said Roth.
For more information about tonight's walk around campus, visit the Facebook event titled, "TOMS One Day Without Shoes" or the group "TOMS info. (IWU chapter)." The walk will begin at 7 p.m. by the fountain.