“One Day Without Shoes”
It’s not everyday you get the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes, especially if they’re not wearing any. But that’s exactly what some schools and businesses are doing.
“Barefeet. No shoes. One day without shoes. What it is is there are kids in Ethiopia that deal with this everyday,” said Jeff Gabbert, a sales manager with Casa Ford.
The car dealership joined other groups across the world in kicking off their shoes to raise awareness to the millions of people who go without shoes everyday.
The TOMS shoe company started ‘One Day Without Shoes’ several years ago, and the idea caught on Thursday in El Paso.
“There’s a disease that I can’t even pronounce that these kids deal with,” Gabbert said. “100 percent of it can be prevented if they just wore shoes.”
We spotted employees behind the desk, signing contracts and yes, even giving a sales pitch outside in the car lot. All of them were barefoot. The pitter patter of bare feet made its way to area campuses too.
Michaela McBurrow and Madelynn Calvetti helped organize the event at Andress High School. They said different students reacted different to the campaign.
“Some people were like, ‘I don’t wanna get a disease, I don’t know what’s on the floor,’ Calvetti said. “Other people are like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll do it.’ Others are totally against it.”
Calvetti said she understands the health risks that are involved in going barefoot, but said that’s the reason for participating in the event.
“Walking barefoot, you can cut your foot on rocks or on glass or scrape them or whatever and when you have cuts, you can get diseases within the cut,” Calvetti said. “Kids go through that everyday, all day. They go to school like that. They just live like that.”
