april 5, 2011 is one day without shoes. this event. sponsored by TOMS Shoes, the event is world wide to raise awareness of the facts and reality of growing up without shoes and introduce people to the TOMS movement. this is an example of what that day looks like:
TOMS is an organization i’ve been particularly found of since my sophomore year of undergrad. over the years and through my incredible opportunities to serve in countries much like the ones TOMS gives to, i have grown more aware of the particular need they are fulfilling around the world. in many developing and poverty stricken third world countries, children must go barefoot risking both injury and disease. in many countries as well, shoes are a requirement for school uniforms, and those unable to afford them and turned away from the schools. you can see the cycle that begins.
One Day Without Shoes encourages people to “put yourself in their shoes” which literally translates to going barefoot in this situation. now, until this year i have been able to participate pretty much all day, but we have a policy at work that you must not only wear shoes, but that you must also wear closed toed shoes. as this stinks for the big day tomorrow, it’s pretty great in general b/c i can wear my TOMS to work every day. and i pretty much do just that. so in honor of One Day Without Shoes, i plan on wearing a different pair of each day along with my TOMS t-shirt to bring awareness and raise some questions. as well as emailing my whole agency and posting flyers 🙂 [on a separate note, i wore my Invisible Children t-shirt last week & it sparked a lot of conversation – just a reminder that people pay attention to the messages we wear. your style can speak a lot to what you believe in & what you support. something worth remembering.]
here’s the schedule for the week:
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| monday – white canvas my first pair that stayed white for a bit. then that changed to a duct tape orange & brown spay paint experiment |
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| tuesday – black canvas my most recent pair with the logo t-shirt |
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| wednesday – charity: water denim map bday present from glenn this year 🙂 |
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| thursday – burlap matches my favorite reusable coffee mug |
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| friday – crochet lined multicolor these might be my favorites. mainly b/c they go with everything |
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| weekend – silver glitter the wedding shoes will make an outing (weather permitting) 🙂 |
Dang woman! That's a lot of TOMS! The Hubs is no longer allowed to tell me that I own too many pairs of shoes.