TOMS Shoes » giving

excited about… parasites

jshortall — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:45:45 +0000

I never imagined I’d say this, but I’m pretty excited about intestinal parasites.

They’re just one of the many things that can plague a child without shoes, but they’re a big one. Some pretty amazing stats, from the World Health Organization and some of our field partners:

400 million children are infected or at risk of being infected with “soil-transmitted helminths” – worms in the soil that can enter the body through the soles of bare feet.
An additional 200 million people worldwide (adults and children) are infected with schistosomiasis, which comes from another type of worm – shoes can play a big prevention role with “schisto”, too.
If a child has enough worms in her body, they will stunt her physical growth, make her more susceptible to other infections, and even cause permanent cognitive damage – that’s a lower IQ, just because of worms!
Children with worms also suffer from lower school attendance.

I wanted to share a couple of emails I’ve received in the last week, from experts in public health and disease prevention. We’re now working with these organizations to get shoes to were they’re needed most.

“Shoes to children can provide additional protection against worm infections…”

“(Shoes) will make a huge difference in children’s burden of disease…”

For me, every day that we give is another day to learn just how instrumental shoes can be as building blocks to children being healthy and able to get an education. This thing we’re doing with something so simple – shoes – gets bigger and more exciting every day, and I am so grateful to be part of it!

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artist skillz from an 11 year old TOMS fan

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:46:49 +0000

One of our awesome young fans, Anna, recently sent us this drawing of her newest pair of TOMS shoes! Not only is she generous, but she’s an artist as well Thank you guys for continuing to inspire us every day. Keep sending us your pics, letters, and drawings!!

Sending snail mail?
TOMS Shoes
attn: Awesome Social Media Dept.
3025 Olympic Blvd. Studio C
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Prefer digital style?
Sarah.Walpert@TOMSshoes.com

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home from ethiopia!

jshortall — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:28:28 +0000

Three of our staff – Andrew, Alejo, and I – just got back from a week in Ethiopia, finding exciting new ways to increase our giving there. In addition to participating in Timkat, one of Ethiopia’s biggest holidays (where Andrew and Alejo wore matching Ethiopian shirts and I got blessed/sprayed in the face by a priest holding a water hose), we hit the road and headed to a little village called Yetebon, about 3 hours south of the capital of Addis Ababa.

Some memorable Yetebon/TOMS moments:

1. Meeting volunteer Kayla, who was living in Yetebon and wearing her burlap TOMS every day.

2. Alejo deciding to ride on the top of our van for about 5 miles. You can see his trusty TOMS hanging over the side (these were taken by the less adventurous people inside the van).

We love Ethiopia! Such a beautiful country filled with warm and welcoming people. Can’t wait to go back!

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giving in argentina

amunoz — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:24:32 +0000

Argentina is where it all began. You’ve seen the YouTube videos, the documentary, and countless photos. We LOVE Argentina.

The majority of our volunteer Shoe Drops have taken place there and I was fortunate to have been a part of one in March, 2008 with an amazing group of people. I called them our Guinea Pigs because it was the first Shoe Drop we had ever coordinated just for our TOMS supporters! Fortunately they were adventurous enough to take that title with pride and go with the flow of the week. We gave shoes to children that Blake and his friends and family had visited in 2006 and made some new friends who received their first pair of TOMS from us.

I remember learning at our first drop location in Misiones that the kids had cleaned up, combed their hair, and wore their best clothing that day – they had been expecting us for weeks. The school director boasted that she had never seen her students so primped and excited for visitors before. At that moment I realized that there really was more to the children (their lives outside of school and their aspirations) than met the eyes. We could see that they were barefoot and that others had shoes that were tattered and beyond repair but we might have never known that they were wearing their BEST clothing, even if they had holes and stains on them. Our visit was special not only to us, but to them.

I could go on for days about the children we met but I’m going to highlight messages we received last week from two Shoe-Droppers in Argentina: one lucky TOMS sweepstakes winner and one TOMS employee. This is why we choose shoes …

Hello,
My name is Lindsey and I am the sweepstakes winner with the group in Argentina…
I am a teacher and I thought I had experienced a lot as far as kids in need. But, no. This trip to Argentina has been humbling (ask Anya who had to comfort me our second drop because I got so emotional). I can´t tell you what a difference TOMS is making in the lives of these children. To put shoes on a child whose feet are torn, dirty and swollen because they walk barefoot is the most amazing experience. To see kids wear closed toed shoes for the first time is almost more than I can describe.
Thank you, thank you, thank you TOMS for allowing me this experience. I am so ready to spread the One for One message when I return home. To see first hand the meaning of this motto is such a gift!
I can´t wait for you to see our pictures. They speak volumes.
Lindsey K.

Hey!
Today we gave shoes in the rain despite getting a flat tire a few miles away from the second village! While we all huddled under the awning, most of the kids played joyfully in the storm with Melissa, kicking their soccer ball…. After we made sure everyone had shoes, we danced, high-fived, and gave thumbs up to Tec and his camera. The kids loved seeing the photos of themselves. They were so giggly and energetic. I miss them already. I’m so glad well continue to give shoes to these villages. For many today, it was their first pair. xo katie

To many more moments like this.

All my best,

Ana Maria
Friends of TOMS Program Manager

Read more about TOMS giving programs in Ethiopia.

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TOMS holiday headquarters creativity continued

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:32:14 +0000

Want to see more drawings from HQ? Check them out here.

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choose shoes this holiday

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:38:29 +0000

Little things turn into big differences, whether it’s buying a pair of TOMS or simply forwarding this video to a friend. Join us and help spread the One for One movement!

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more holiday drawings from hq

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:04:10 +0000

The artistic talents of some of the TOMS staff at HQ debuted last week featuring what gifts they were giving this Holiday season and why. And back by popular demand, here are some more comical and clever creations from HQ…

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let’s reflect: south africa TOMS + element shoe + board drop

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:31:02 +0000

Its been over a month since 10 of us HQ employees were on the other side of the world, on our hands and knees giving shoes to children. Six weeks ago we woke up every morning with a feeling of uneasy excitement: unsure of what the day ahead would hold, unsure of how we would feel when we met the children, but 100% sure of our commitment to making the lives of those children better… through shoes.

In the days before we left for the trip, we were stopped endlessly by our colleagues, “Well, are you ready?!” We just shook our heads, laughed and smiled, “I guess so!” We had no clue we would fall in love with a 6 year girl on day five, we didn’t know we’d cry when we walked in to a school on day four and hundreds of children were singing in unison to us. We didn’t predict our first day would end with a 30 minute conversation in slow, broken English about school and America and family atop a 20 foot skate ramp outside Durban.

And now, after six weeks of reminiscing and “I miss you!” posts on Facebook with the other volunteers and the Element crew, we’re sharing our stories with our fellow employees here at HQ.

Matt from Customer Service led the slide show put together by Heidi in our media department while Jonathan, Justin, Kelli, Ana Maria, Fion, Megan, Garett, and I threw in extra tidbits about how AWESOME the entire experience was.

Matt telling stories to the crowd in the back of the office

A kid getting ready to jump off the pier to surf. He is part of the Uthumbo program in Durban that provides a safe haven for street kids, teaching them art, and how to surf and skate.

The TOMS + Element South Africa Shoe Drop crew

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creative stimulus package: toms employees take it back to the basics

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:54:22 +0000

We have a pretty creative space to work in. Its a warehouse/sound stage turned official business HQ: Creative. We have walls made out of boxes of shoes: Creative. And we each have special “shoe names” (Sole Surfer, Sole Mate, Shoegooder): Creative… right? We’ve even been known to have entire all-staff meetings to brainstorm.

In order to remind our staff that they need to exercise their creativity and start thinking about the special people in their lives that they’ll be giving to this Holiday, we asked them to color.

Take out a sharpie, a highlighter, or a freshly sharpened pencil and draw us a picture of who’s on your list, or what you’ll be getting them.

What they came up with made us smile, made us laugh, and reminded us why some work in the Creative department… and some don’t.

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TOMS family thanksgiving

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:41:19 +0000

It’s like we just can’t get enough of each other… when we say we’re a family, we mean it. That means working hard Monday through Friday together and taking lunch breaks just to hang out more. And spending time after work together, and sometimes weekends too. This year we held our first annual TOMS Family Thanksgiving dinner right here in our cozy “home” (OK, crammed in to the back corner of the office on picnic tables). Blackberries and iPhones were not welcome at the dinner table as we shared random fun facts about ourselves (like one of our employees was a Ski Champion in Iran! Whoa!), lots of good stories, and plenty of bad jokes.

We each brought food to share, which allowed for a diverse selection of the best Thanksgiving foods: turkey, biscuits, stuffing… and enchiladas and home-made guac and salsa (we’re in SoCal! c’mon!).

And after dinner was over and our tummies were full, we may or may not have turned up the audio system and been graced by the karaoke skills of Garett and Liza….

From all of us here at TOMS in Santa Monica, we wish you a wonderful, safe, and delicious Thanksgiving!

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