On April 5, thousands across the world participated in an annual event called One Day Without Shoes.

One Day Without Shoes was created by TOMS Shoes. This organization doesn’t just make shoes, it also gives them away. It’s called the One for One movement, which was initiated by the founder Blake Mycoskie.

In 2006, Mycoskie took a trip to Argentina. While there, he saw many people living without shoes and the dangers of this. Many children couldn’t attend school without them and most had to travel miles just to obtain clean drinking water while being barefoot. There was also risk of injury, infection and soil-transmitted diseases that most people there can’t afford to prevent or treat.

Woodmore students go barefoot for Argentine students. (Window To Woodmore Photo by Keely Siesky)

After witnessing this, Mycoskie returned back to the U.S. and came up with the idea to create a shoe company that would donate a pair of shoes to children in need.

Woodmore junior Mary Makulinski has been buying shoes there since 2009 and supports the company completely.

“With every pair of shoes you purchase, TOMS gives a pair away to a child in need,” said Makulinski.

The company’s movement has grown increasingly. It now boasts commercials and annual events held each year. The most popular event is One Day Without Shoes. TOMS Shoes came up with this project in order to challenge people worldwide to go a day without shoes in order to raise awareness for the millions of children who go without shoes.

As of last year, more than 250,000 people across the globe went barefoot on April 8. TOMS has given away over 1,000,000 pairs of shoes to children across the world, and the company hopes to soon surpass the number by much more.

(Reprinted with permission from the April 2011 edition of Window to Woodmore, a student publication.)

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