Sitting along the mud road of her rural African village, a child unwraps a smile of hope as she marvels at the contrast of her dust-caked shins against the perfectly clean pink canvas of her new shoes.

This little girl is one of 50,000 South African children to receive the gift of new shoes from the company TOMS Shoes for Tomorrow.

TOMS was created in late 2006 by entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie. After coming within four minutes of winning CBS’s “The Amazing Race,” Mycoskie ventured to Argentina to clear his mind, reflect on life and randomly take up polo.

His instructor, a native Argentine, spoke of his country’s health problems, specifically those affecting children who lack adequate footwear. Mycoskie was immediately inspired and decided to develop a company where for every pair of shoes it sells, another will be donated to a child in need.

“You do not need experience in order to start an impacting organization,” Mycoskie said. “If you have an idea that is truly great, then people you need will come to you.”

The rubber-soled canvas shoes are inspired by Alpargatas, the footwear of Argentine workers. Designed to be manufactured cheaply, TOMS supports fair, no sweatshop labor practices that have minimal impact on the environment.

Mycoskie hand delivered 10,000 shoes to Argentinean children within the first year of his first effort.

Now he is expanding to South Africa. Last month, the company teamed up with Food4Africa, an organization that provides 15,000 meals a day throughout the region, and began the massive distribution of 50,000 shoes to needy children. Within the first five days of the effort, 6,000 pairs of TOMS shoes were placed on the feet of South African children. Their next stop is Malawi, Africa, in May.

“Placing shoes on children’s bare feet, who never had even dreamed about getting a present in their lives, truly making their lives more comfortable is an amazing, emotional and unique experience,” Mycoskie said.

Mycoskie has always led a life of entrepreneurship. A graduate of Southern Methodist University in Texas, Mycoskie dreamed of becoming a professional tennis player until he ruptured his knee. This misfortune miraculously evolved into a unique opportunity: Mycoskie created a door-to-door laundry service to aid students with similar circumstances that later expanded to four other area schools.

Mycoskie calls his passion genuine. Giving an impoverished child their first pair of correctly fitting shoes is a bond that is created between him and the child, a moment in time neither will ever forget.

More than 300 stores and partners have jumped on the TOMS bandwagon, including Hanson and Macy’s, the largest domestic distributor of the shoes. Featured recently in Oprah Magazine, Elle and Times Magazine, TOMS is becoming recognizable. The shoes can be purchased in the United States, Canada, Italy, Japan and Korea.

“ TOMS is an incredible organization that provides a simple way for everyday consumers to help children in need,” sophomore Sami Leonard said. “They make a great gift for the friends that are hard to shop for and you’ll help children everywhere too.”

Bring joy to a child in need and buy TOMS for only $38. Visit

www.tomsshoes.com to purchase shoes, find a store or read Mycoskie’s blog about the shoe drop in South Africa.

Features Editor: Caroline Matthews - 12/05/07