Tom's Shoes

There was a story on the CBS Sunday Morning program about a 33 year old guy who has a shoe company and for every shoe that he sells he donates a pair to people who need shoes.. His name is Blake Mikowski and he and his sister were on The Amazing Race in 2002.  His shoes are called Tom's-- for Tomorrow shoes.  To date he has donated 400,000 shoes that go to people around the world. The story focused on Ethiopia where there is a disease called podoconiosis, which causes swelling of the feet and legs and is the result of  prolonged exposure to soil that contains volcanic ash. Many of the children have never had a pair of shoes and without them they would be a candidate for this disease. Calling himself a social entrepreneur, he sold most of his possessions and lives on a sailboat near LA.  To paraphrase, he said 'Once you have seen the happiest people you have ever seen who have nothing, you start to rethink what the world and society tells us we need to be happy.' The interviewer called it 'A business with soul' which I thought was a great pun.

This story made me cry and it makes me  want to go out and buy a pair of Tom's shoes. I love stories like this--better than listening to the stories of greed and corruption that are in the news every day.