Taking Shoelaces for Granted

I had a notion to do a fundraiser for children tied to shoes or shoelaces since we're coming up on the one-year release date of Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces, and I'm still going to do it, but while I was out cruising the Internet for some inspiration I came across TOMS shoes (www.toms.com), which gave me inspiration in spades.

TOMS is a business built around a simple idea: for every pair of shoes they sell, they will give a brand new pair of shoes to a child in need. In just three and a half years, the people behind TOMS have given away over 400,000 shoes to children in the US and around the world who had to walk everywhere with bare feet, in all kinds of weather, and who were exposed to infection and disease from unsafe roads and contaminated soil by such a simple thing as a lack of shoes.

In addition to their awesome charitable work providing shoes to kids, TOMS has also started ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES, an awareness-raising event for folks like you and me to let people know about the impact shoes can have on a child's life by going barefoot on April 8th, even if just for a few minutes.

Another great shoe charity is Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org), a Nashville-based organization that distributes new and gently-used shoes to adults and children all over the US and around the world. Since 2005, they've distributed over 7 million pairs of shoes to people in need, especially after natural disasters.

After writing Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces, I've had shoes and shoelaces on the brain. It was terribly easy to take them for granted.

Please join me in spreading the word about the astounding affect a pair of shoes can have on a child's life by going barefoot on April 8th for One Day Without Shoes. Also, until April 30th, I'll be collecting shoes locally to donate to Soles4Souls, and for every copy of Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces sold either at book festivals or at www.talltailspublishing.com, I'll be donating a new pair of childrens shoes as well.

We can change the world, one step at a time.

EDIT***We've extended the deadline to May 31st!