Reply to comment
Submitted by admin on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 12:21
TOMS + Bridge2Rwanda pair up
In March 2010, TOMS traveled to Rwanda for a unique Shoe Drop, in partnership with Kris Allen, last year's American Idol winner, and Little Rock, AR-based organization Bridge2Rwanda. Although this was TOMS first Shoe Drop in Rwanda, we have been giving shoes there with another giving partner, World Vision. During the trip, in the northwest region called Shyira Diocese, we distributed 1,000 pairs of shoes to beautiful children. Kris sang and played guitar with the kids, inspiring them to laugh, smile, and dance. Candice, TOMS "Shoe Glue", recalls one boy who felt like he could finally dance like Michael Jackson... because he had shoes to do so! You can read more about Candice's perspective on an earlier blog post.
Here's a short video from the recent Rwanda Shoe Drop:
Here's a short video from the recent Rwanda Shoe Drop:
Another 32,000 pairs are on their way and will be distributed by Bridge2Rwanda volunteers and local Rwandan organizations to kids in these same communities. Our newest TOMS Family member, Doug Piwinski, was lucky enough to spend his first days working for TOMS on this Shoe Drop, and he clearly had an emotional initiation, "What I realized while in Rwanda is that all of the beautiful and amazing people I met there were connected by something bigger than any one person – the One for One movement. That's such a powerful feeling, and I can’t wait to do more."
