Cold sidewalks and damp grass didn’t stop the USI TOMS club from trampling campus barefoot for “One Day Without Shoes” Tuesday.
The new club hit the ground running, organizing their first big event within a week of getting approved by USI. President Reid Waninger said they wanted to raise awareness about the club and “One Day Without Shoes” was the perfect opportunity.
“Our goal is to get as many people involved as we can,” Reid said. “Getting the USI chapter to walk barefoot will advertise the club and participate in the national event to raise awareness of TOMS’ cause by putting ourselves in their shoes, or lack thereof.”
All week the club posted flyers and recruited students to ditch their shoes and participate in the annual event. The news caught on quick with more than 50 students signing up to walk barefoot.
But the recruiting didn’t stop there. Erin Gillingham, president of USI’s To Write Love on Her Arms, said this is her third year participating in “One Day Without Shoes.” She owns four pairs of TOMS.
“It’s a really cool organization and I’m glad USI has its own chapter now,” Gillingham said. “I definitely want our two clubs to collaborate together at some point. They seem really cool, and would be great to work with.”
Tuesday the club set up a table and provided entertainment for students around the fountain while informing them of the TOMS movement and plans for USI’s new club.
Vice President Butch Waninger said they want the club to be as casual as possible.
“We wanted to set up a carefree environment for Tuesday,” Butch said. “We got a local musician to play his guitar and sing cover songs, we played Frisbee and skated around campus.”
TOMS, which stands for tomorrow, is a for-profit organization based out of California that donates shoes to children in need in developing countries.
For every pair of canvas shoes purchased, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need.
The movement is called “One for One.”
Since 2006, TOMS has given over one million pairs of shoes to children in need around the world.
Butch said that since they’re getting a late start for the 2011 year their main focus is figuring out the details of the club, and planning for next year.
They are currently planning a “style your sole” event where students can buy hand painted canvas shoes, painted by art majors, at the end of the year.
“We have a lot of good things planned for the end of the semester and next year,” Butch said. “Hopefully everything goes according to plan.”
