TOMS SHOES LOGO

Names: John and Gilbert
Ages: 14 and 11
Location: Northern province, Rwanda
Giving Partner: World Vision

John and Gilbert are best friends and just received their second pair of new TOMS from Giving Partner World Vision. They were so grateful that they sang a song to thank you for their new shoes.



Since 2009, TOMS Giving Partner World Vision has been distributing TOMS Shoes to children throughout Rwanda, among more than 15 other countries. On the day John & Gilbert received their second pair, children, their families and community leaders gathered to receive the new shoes, expressing deep thanks all the while.

Learn more about how World Vision gives TOMS & read stories from the Giving Side here on the TOMS Blog...

Since 1950, TOMS Giving Partner World Vision has been serving children in need throughout the world. They work in almost 100 countries and distribute new TOMS Shoes in more than 15. Through diverse and integrative programming, the organization is dedicated to supporting children, families and communities become self-sustainable. World Vision invests in communities worldwide to help them reach their full potential and we are proud to help maintain that commitment in our work alongside them.





When World Vision works in a community, they partner with local leadership to assess what interventions most benefit that community. They build trust and develop a plan for the community’s self-sustenance, and once that plan is in place, the physical work begins. Depending on the unique needs of the area, the World Vision team and community members work together to find and train teachers; build schools; drill wells; provide agricultural training; offer small business support and loans; identify sustainable sources of income; teach nutrition courses and provide medical resources, training and care.

As a TOMS Shoe Giving Partner, World Vision has an additional resource to help meet the needs of the communities. With your support, TOMS provides World Vision with new shoes in the quantities and sizes they need within the communities they serve, at the time those communities can best use them. This allows World Vision to incorporate new shoes into their programming based on what is best for children, on a community-by-community basis. As children outgrow their shoes, TOMS and World Vision can replace them until a community no longer has a need.


  


When a TOMS customer buys a pair of shoes, the Giving Pair is not simply dropped off to a child in need. It’s thanks to our amazing Giving Partners like World Vision that shoes are distributed to children by the Giving Partner staff and local volunteers as part of the holistic development programs. In the areas where we partner with World Vision, TOMS Shoes are leveraged and integrated into the organization’s health and education goals. As part of the whole, shoes become a valuable and strategic resource in supporting children’s health and well-being.

Learn more about TOMS Giving Partner World Vision at their website www.worldvision.org or by reading more about them on the TOMS blog.

Jay Catlin is the founder and president of AMS Fulfillment, the place that’s helped ensure that your TOMS orders get to your doorstep since 2008. He recently returned from a TOMS Giving Trip in Honduras with Giving Partner Hogar de Niños Enmanuel. Throughout his journey, Jay sent emails back home to his staff in Southern California relaying some of the highlights of his time in Honduras, and when he returned home, he passed them along to us. It’s been refreshing to hear the unique perspective from outside the walls of HQ and how the One for One movement ties into his daily work.

Day 1:
I joined the TOMS team at the LAX airport for a late night flight to Honduras. Especially after all of the phone calls and emails leading up to our trip, I was excited to meet the people I’d be spending the next week distributing shoes alongside. We’re on the plane now…time to catch some sleep before a busy week of rewarding work.

Day 2:
We landed and were welcomed by TOMS Giving Partner Hogar de Niños Enmanuel, a local orphanage that gives new TOMS to children throughout Honduras. They took us to distribute shoes to a nearby community, where we got to see first-hand how a pair of shoes can make a difference not only for the children, but also their families. The cost of a new pair of shoes can represent [a large portion] of a family's monthly income. Many parents at the distribution showed us their gratitude and thanked us kindly.

This trip is already a powerful one, as I’ve begun to piece together a new understanding of how new shoes help protect children’s feet and help provide an emotional boost to those we receive them. I can more confidently tell you that what we do at AMS plays an important part in the One for One movement and in contributing to children’s lives.





Day 3:
The Hogar de Niños Enmanuel team picked us up bright and early and we drove to visit a rural school to give new TOMS. It was a real eye-opener for me.

We distributed new TOMS and replaced shoes that were in extremely poor condition. We saw some that were two sizes too big with the soles disconnected, and saw rain boots with no socks in 95-degree heat. We saw many kids in flip-flops worn from long-distance walks to school. A few times, it was tough to get kids’ swollen feet into new TOMS Shoes, but we got each and every foot into a new pair.

Day 4:
Today was really special. We visited the Hogar de Niños Enmanuel orphanage. It was incredible to see how they focus on ensuring each child gets a full education in a loving and giving environment. One of the many opportunities Hogar offers children is to grow and produce food on campus, which provides hands-on lessons about commerce and sustainability. The children at the orphanage donate a portion of all the food they produce to local nursing homes and pediatric hospitals in need of support. This adds yet another layer of meaningful learning, teaching the children at Hogar the importance of giving back to the community.

Day 5:
I'm back in the office now after spending five incredible days in Honduras with the TOMS team and Giving Partner Hogar de Niños Enmanuel.

This experience brings new meaning to our work at AMS. Our efforts in making sure shoe orders reach TOMS customers is paralleled by the efforts of TOMS and their Giving Partners in making sure that new shoes reach the feet of children. It is clear how needed and helpful new shoes are for many of the children I met. But the effect goes beyond just the shoes themselves. In conjunction with Giving Partners, TOMS is helping to create a culture of giving, both at home and in communities where TOMS Giving Partners are distributing shoes in other countries. I’m excited to be a part of this.

Thanks to the AMS team for playing a large part in the One for One movement!

Name: Temwani
Age: 13
Location: Lilongwe District, Malawi
Giving Partner: Goods for Good




If you ever happen to be in the Lilongwe District of Central Malawi, you might see a lively 13-year old girl sprint by in a blur. Her name is a Temwani, and she loves to run relay races. If you blink, you might miss the new TOMS Shoes on her feet – provided to her courtesy of a TOMS purchase and Giving Partner Goods for Good.

TOMS Giving Partner Goods for Good works closely with local community-based organizations, schools and orphanages, to help provide for the basic needs of children in Malawi. Goods for Good told us that by owning a pair of new TOMS Shoes, children gain confidence and self-worth and are excited to show off their shoes to one another at school.

“I like the shoes and I really look good in them…I will be wearing when going to school to protect my feet,” Temwani said.

While her community lacks resources, Temwani is not a wilting product of her environment; in fact, she represents a bright future. She dreams of becoming a nurse, and with the first pair of shoes she’s ever owned, she is walking to school with protection against the parasites, debris and thorns littering the road. And winning just about all of her relay races.

Walking and running with protection: just a few simple joys provided by the first pair of shoes this 13-year old girl has ever owned.

As TOMS sight giving continues in Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia, we are very happy to share that TOMS Eyewear purchases are now helping restore sight to children in the United States as well!

TOMS is excited to partner with Helen Keller International’s (HKI) ChildSight® program to help provide prescription glasses to children living in impoverished U.S. communities. Since 1994, ChildSight® has provided vision screening and prescription eyeglasses to at-risk students living in urban and rural communities in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland and the Navajo Nation. TOMS Eyewear is proud to join them in helping provide new glasses to children.

Each year, 2 million children in the United States have undiagnosed or uncorrected vision problems. Without glasses, children with poor vision struggle in school. Amy, a sixth grader in Los Angeles explains, “Sometimes I get dizzy when I look at the board and it is hard to understand the teacher. A lot of times I have to ask the person sitting next to me what the board says. It’s hard to stay focused.”





Corey Hodes, an optometrist with ChildSight®, shares, “A lot of kids come in and can’t even see the big E on the eye chart. When I put the glasses on them and refine their vision, we are getting them down to the bottom line! Seeing their eyes open up and realize that there are actually letters before them on the chart, I can’t really describe it in words…I just know that from that point forward, this child is going to have more confidence; they are going to have better success in school…and in reaching their full potential.”



"A lot of kids come in and can’t even see the big E on the eye chart. When I put the glasses on them and refine their vision, we are getting them down to the bottom line!" - Corey Hodes, an optometrist with ChildSight®

We are so grateful for our awesome customers and the amazing work our Sight Giving Partners are doing in Nepal, Cambodia, Tibet and now the United States. We’re looking forward to sharing more sight stories from at home and around the world with the TOMS community in the coming months!

Check out more on Helen Keller International and ChildSight®. 

Source: hki.org

My Giving Trip to Honduras with TOMS Giving Partner, Hogar de Niños Emanuel, is one that I will never forget and am so happy to have been a part of. We visited six different schools, all so different from one another. Some schools were given their first pair of TOMS six months ago, so we had the opportunity to give them their second pair, as promised. Yet the schools did have a common thread: the children at each were highly excited to be receiving new TOMS. They were ready for us with smiling faces, hugs and performances that they worked hard to prepare.



It was neat to see how the pair of shoes each child received 6 months ago had helped answer a great need. I cannot count on my fingers how many times I heard the children and the teachers say, “Gracias por los zapatos!” (“Thank you for the shoes!”). I am still blown away at how much gratitude they expressed. In Honduras, shoes are a part of a uniform that is required in order to attend school. They are not just a pair of shoes; they are an opportunity for an education.

The last school we visited was in a rural area, hours away from where we began that day, by car. We were on our way there to help Hogar de Niños give the kids their very first pair of TOMS Shoes. A lot of the children there have to walk over an hour (some barefoot) to get to school. When we arrived and before we distributed the shoes, the children thanked us and sang the national anthem for us in their native language. That was an awesome experience.

As I stood listening to them sing the anthem, I glanced down at the little girl standing next to me. She looked about three years old. The first thing I noticed about her was that she wasn’t wearing any shoes. I smiled and said hello. She seemed a little shy. All I could think about was her walking an hour, barefoot, to get to school.



Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to put a pair of shoes on her little feet! At that very moment, I could not think of much else that would bring me greater joy. After she got her own pair of new TOMS Shoes, she looked so happy! It’s amazing to know that she will now be able to walk to school without being exposed to cuts and scrapes the way she was before this, and, of course, to know that she’s been given greater access to education for years to come.

Check out more employee journals from Giving Trips

Check out photos of the TOMS family helping Giving Partner Hogar de Niños Emanuel distribute TOMS Shoes to children in Honduras

Enter to win a chance to go on a Giving Trip with TOMS!
More info on how to enter here on the TOMS Blog

We just launched the TOMS Ticket to Give campaign nationwide, an online contest at TOMS.com where one lucky customer or fan will be selected each week to win an invitation to join us on a TOMS Giving Trip.

“I was inspired by the wonderment of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket,” said Blake, TOMS Founder and Chief Shoe Giver. “The greatest part of my job is going on our Giving Trips.  TOMS started this way, and these have been some of the most moving and memorable experiences in my life.   We have an unbelievably passionate community, many of whom tell us they would love to go on a TOMS Giving Trip.  So we thought, “What can we do to show them how thankful we are for them?” 

Giving Trips are not vacations, but journeys into communities of incredible people and enormous need. They are hands-on, face-to-face journeys that, for those who are giving, are as much about personal transformation as positively impacting the lives of others.

“We want to take as many people as possible on our Giving Trips,” added Blake, “and The TOMS Ticket will give someone a chance to see a holistic approach to our giving.  Our hope is that our fans who win a TOMS Ticket and join us will have life-changing experiences, and they’ll come back with a fresh perspective on their communities, their jobs, their lives… and the lives of others.” 

TOMS Ticket to Give is open to TOMS customers and community ages 13 and up exclusively at TOMS.com.  

The reactions we saw from our community online yesterday were incredible:

Such a great way to spread the joy of giving! Keep on keeping it real TOMS!
this is soooo awesome!!!
I love all that TOMS stands for. I would love to be chosen to go on this experience.
@BlakeMycoskie This is so amazing! Fingers crossed I'm the next !!!!#TOMStickettogive
Love the @TOMS #TOMStickettogive idea. That would be an amazing thing to witness.

We hope you'll enter for a chance to join us. Many of us TOMS employees have had the opportunity to go on a Giving Trip and we agree with Blake - it's a special, memorable, and such a remarkable experience!

Dear TOMS, 
 

I have been buying your shoes for years and have at least 20 pairs! It has always warmed my heart reading about all of the many lives you are touching…

But, after I read where you are helping Native Americans [by prodiving them] with shoes, I just lost it! My daughters and I have been doing volunteer service work with the Lakota people in Oglala, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge reservation for years…I thank you so much because I know first-hand how badly they need our support in so many ways.  

I will continue to purchase TOMS shoes and wear them proudly. My daughter has even begun to paint them for family and friends and she is quite the artist. We love ALL our TOMS!!!!

Thank you again for helping these wonderful people & ALL of the wonderful people you have so graciously helped!
 

Sincerely,

Christy

Coprodeli is an amazing organization that provides education, housing, health care, food security, job training and more to families living in some of the most impoverished communities in Peru. In 2010, Coprodeli began giving TOMS Shoes in combination with their other services.



We sat down with Coprodeli to talk about the difference being made by giving shoes to children in need. And here’s what they had to say:

Tell us about your education program.
We feel that education is so important, especially in Peru. Peru has one of the worst education systems in all of Latin America. Coprodeli has 15 schools in three major areas of Peru: Lima, south Ica and in a jungle region called San Martine. All of Coprodeli’s schools are in urban, marginalized areas with high populations right outside the city. We provide quality education to children living in some of the most challenging areas of Peru. We educate over 5,000 students, ages 2-17. And we ask for a lot of family involvement. One of the most important parts is having parents involved in their children’s education.

We feel that education is vital in underdeveloped communities. It doesn’t matter that Peru has a growing economy if it doesn’t have an educated youth.

How do new shoes help support the work Coprodeli does in these communities?
If kids don’t have proper uniforms or shoes, they are not allowed in schools. A student who shows up without a uniform and shoes is turned away from class. Often what you see is kids wearing shoes to school that are too big or torn up and overused. Many kids attending schools in marginalized areas do not have proper footwear. And the kids without shoes and uniforms don’t even show up to school.

There’s so much dust and pollution and when we’re sizing kids, we run into very dirty, worn and torn feet. Protecting the foot is an especially important part of a kid’s ability to get to school. It also provides motivation. It’s an important part of school and community development; coming together to work and study together, which is the main focus of what Coprodeli does.



How does giving new shoes affect the kids?
The children are ecstatic. Many of them have never owned a new pair of shoes, so it’s not just a new item, but also a new experience. You hear about how proud and excited they are to be wearing new shoes. It’s really great and is a tangible necessity. But emotionally, it’s very, very important for kids as well, especially for self-esteem. Nearly all of our children wearing TOMS Shoes are out playing soccer and participating in physical education…kids are very proud of this new gift and feel privileged to have received it.


Check out this photo album of TOMS Giving Partner Coprodeli giving TOMS shoes in Peru on TOMS Facebook page...