CuteGeek

Many of you may not know this about me, but in the late ‘90’s, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in two Panamanian villages, Pedernal and  Embera Drua, and experienced life without bathrooms, without walls, without shoes.  For many, there is nothing to adapt to, this is life as they know it. Shoes are a luxury and are often a barrier to receiving education. Lack of shoes exposes children to injury, soil-born illnesses and parasites that enter the body through skin.

I used to travel home and collect my younger sister’s outgrown shoes to bring back to the village. I could do that since I had access to 1) a little girl’s outgrown wardrobe and 2) village children who needed and wanted my sister’s gently warn shoes. I still want to help but can’t fly as often and I know of countless others who would love to help but also don’t frequent rural villages in developing nations….and then there is that ever-looming concern that “what difference can one person really make”…Yesterday, Moraima Avalos, a sweet and savvy, socially-conscious 17 year-old NYC high school student gave me the answer:  Tom’s Shoes. For every pair of shoes Tom sells, they give a new pair of shoes to a child in need, one for one. Tom’s even publishes an annual giving report so customers can really understand the breath of the impact their purchase has. Continue Reading…