Well, I contacted TOM’S shoes to see what the requirements were to be a shoe drop point figuring that perhaps we could meet the needs of the kids attending our Help and Hope Centers. Wouldn’t it be great to meet the needs of a few hundred or a thousand kids? My jaw dropped when I found out the minimum commitment an organization can make is to distribute 17,000 pairs of shoes! Every six months! To the same kids!
Now, I respect what TOM’S Shoes is doing to meet the needs of poor children. And I understand that it’s wise to keep the same kids in a pair of shoes as they grow. But 17,000? Every six months. A participating organization also has to keep records and provide stories of how the shoes are positively impacting the child’s life. All this is good.
My question is, what organization that has its’ own mission to carry out has the surplus resources to create a system to distribute 17,000 pairs of shoes every six months? And remember, 17,000 pairs is the minimum requirement. If we were to create such a system our kids would not be receiving help with their studies at the Help and Hope Centers. They would be getting shoes period.
The ads for TOM’S on television show a company representative going into a village, getting hugs, and giving away shoes. What the ads don’t say is that more than a hundred such villages would have to be visited each six months.
So, we at Andean Aid will continue to provide a superior place for young minds to grow and develop. We will stay out of the shoe business.
