High profile support for One Day Without Shoes campaign
Talk show host Jay Leno and Hollywood actress Demi Moore were among the famous participants in the One Day Without Shoes event on April 8 organised by Toms Shoes. The company was pleasantly surprised when both appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno without their shoes in support of the campaign. Later in the show, congressman Barney Frank also walked on stage without any shoes on.
While we didn’t plan any of this, it certainly came off very well and we couldn’t be more thrilled, it said in a statement. “When people in the public eye speak up, we know more people will hear the message, and that only helps get more shoes to children in need around the world.”
The campaign was introduced three years ago to highlight the plight of children in developing countries who contract diseases from soil-based parasites because they have no shoes. Toms Shoes was founded in 2006 when founder Blake Mycoskie met children in a village in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. He created the company and pledged that for every pair sold, a new pair of shoes would be given to a child in need. The firm has given hundreds of thousands of pairs away since then.
"A shoe company asking people to go barefoot? I know it's odd, but we are so excited for people to once again join us in One Day Without Shoes," Mycoskie said. "We ask people to go the day, part of the day, or even just a few minutes, barefoot, to experience what millions of children endure every day. Awareness and empathy are the catalysts of change."
