For those of you that have not heard about Toms let me provide you with a little background.
One for One Movement
In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.
Why Shoes?
Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk:
•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.
April 5th was TOMS One Day Without Shoes Day to raise awareness! The link below explains it all!
http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/
So I got really excited since I LOVE TOMS... I own the black sparkle pair, the silver sparkle pair, and the red canvas ones.... So I came to school yesterday morning with a mission to spread the word to my students and go the day without shoes.
When class began I asked my kids, "Why do we wear shoes?" This question completely stumped them. After a little more digging around the ideas started flying: "so our feet dont get dirty," "so our feet dont stink," "so we dont step on glass," "so we dont step on bugs," and answers continued to roll. Then I said, "Do you know that there are children all around the world that do NOT have any shoes?" Their jaws dropped. They could not believe that they have lots of shoes in their closest and other kids had to walk around with no shoes at all. So I then proposed to them that we would honor all of those kids by spending the day in class barefoot.... At first you heard a few giggles and snickers but as soon as I took off my shoes all the students followed suit! Here are a few pictures of our feet!
