50,000 shoes in 50 days

November 18, 2008

activism / business

Currently, there is an ambitious attempt to use social media to meet a need. I really like finding out about these things, especially when I can help a little bit.

This particular one is designed to buy 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days, through an organization that has, in its existence, distributed over 3 million pairs of shoes in over 60 countries. Apparently, there are over 300 million people today who do not have shoes. Imagine that. 300 million.

The interesting thing that this brings to my mind is that there are over 1 billion people today who make less than $1 a day. How much do you think many of the people who have no shoes make? This is an opportunity, in all likelihood, to help the poorest of the poor with a basic need. And, $5 can buy a pair two pairs of shoes.