Charity Begins With Shoes

ABC News On Campus reporter Chelsey Delaney blogs: A sound collage of voices from some of the 3,000 young people who applied to the Clinton Global Initiative University greeted a crowd of 1,000 University of Texas students Friday. Volunteers bustled audience members to their seats to hear an all-star guest panel. Doing good deeds takes great effort in tough times, especially for college students, former President Clinton said.  "The earth doesn’t know there has been a financial crisis," he said. Then the former president introduced a guest who could shed light on one issue: Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes. "Why are shoes such a big deal?" Mycoskie asked the crowd. "There are tons of foot diseases affecting children in poverty and we don’t need a vaccine. Just give them shoes." Mycoskie relayed his history as a businessman of 10 years who traveled to Argentina in 2005 and witnessed thousands of children without shoes. His first thought led him to charity, but his next told him to build a business model based on philanthropy. Mycoskie said that if he had gone into charity, he would have never had the economic means to help as many people. The concept  is simple, as his Web site says: "For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One." The reason behind success comes from a choice to not advertise  — each customer spreads the word, he said. And it’s working. This February, people bought three times as many TOMS as last February, he said, and on campuses, it’s pretty evident. St. Edward’s University senior Mindy Gunter proudly sports black TOMS boots on a rare, cold Austin day. It makes her proud to know that consumerism does not always have to symbolize materialism, Gunter said. "Wearing TOMS means myself and others knowing that I have cared enough to help someone even in an act like spending money," Gunter said. "Shoes should mean a lot more to the privileged and I think TOMS is making that happen." Mycoskie ended his thought by advising students to come up with their own philanthropic business models. "Business does not always have to be evil," Mycoskie said. "Use a business model to help yourself and the community."