Students forego shoes for a week to fight poverty
May 5, 2009 |09:38 | News By : Team X
Several students from Bishop Grandin High School are going barefoot this week to raise money and shoes for local shelters and children in developing countries.
About 20 students will be without shoes round the clock for a week starting Monday as part of the fundraising effort, which was organized by Grade 10 students Kelsey Ross and Lexi Streu.Ross admitted the first day of commuting to school barefoot wasn't easy."Taking the C-Train was kind of painful and a little bit gross, but it's worth it in the end to raise awareness, because I got asked by a lot of people why I wasn't wearing shoes."
The students are collecting new and used shoes for Calgary's local shelters, as well as cash donations for Free the Children, an international children's charity founded by Canadian Craig Kielburger in 1995.
"A lot of people in our society don't appreciate what we have and … what people go through — like not having shoes," Ross said. "It's just really important that people understand that and appreciate what they go through."Ross and Streu got the idea from Bilaal Rajan, a young activist from Toronto they met while building a school in Ecuador last summer with Free the Children. Rajan spent seven days without shoes last month to raise awareness about child poverty.Ross said her mother is proud of her efforts but asked that she carry a First-Aid kit with her during this barefoot week.
1 Comments
Marissa
November 8, 2009 |01:06
This is a great idea.
We are organising a barefoot week in Auckland, NZ to raise money for local kids. We hope to spend the entire week barefoot, including going to work (with our employers permission of course). On public transport and on the street we will be wearing barefoot for kids t-shirts and taking collection tins.
We have 14 people signed up so far, but are aiming for 100. We are all very afraid of suffering from cold feet and painful blisters ! Some of the smarter people are building up endurance by getting some practice in first !!
Marissa
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