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A group of Union students, staff and faculty bare their soles for a mile-long walk to raise funds for children who need shoes.
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| Union student Cassy Kost didn’t let her participation in One Day Without Shoes keep her from enjoying a jog near the campus lake. |
‘Brave Soles’ at Union College Go One Day Without Shoes
It was miserably wet and cold, but that did not stop dozens of Union College students, faculty and staff from going barefoot for an entire day.
The college participated in One Day Without Shoes on Thursday, April 8. The international event is sponsored by TOMS Shoes. The goal is to educate people about the difference a simple pair of shoes can make in the life of a child, especially in terms of disease prevention. Participations are asked to experience a day without shoes and urged to donate shoes as part of the event.
A deluge on the chilly Thursday morning made for an intense experience for Union’s participants. In spite of the weather, students made their way through standing rain puddles to get to and from classes.
“The first part of the day was terrible, with the cold air and the rain,” said freshman Krystal Webb, a student from Paris, Ky. “Going the full day without shoes has made me appreciate the little things—like shoes—that I never think about.”
Christi Day, a Stanford, Ky., native and Union sophomore, thought the bad conditions deepened her understanding of the issue.
“A sunny day would have made my experience better,” she said. “But, the cold and rain made not wearing shoes all that much more realistic. “
Emily Baker, a Union student from Manchester, echoed Day’s thoughts.
“The cold and the rain made the experience so much better because we could fully appreciate what these children go through. They don’t get to choose when they go without shoes,” Baker said.
Union’s One Day Without Shoes event was coordinated by the Common Partners Program, which hosts all service-learning activities at the college, and the Spiritual Life program.
Gabrielle Mellendorf, director of Common Partners, was somewhat worried about whether the event would succeed.
“I was ecstatic about this awareness day,” she said. “My social justice intern and a senior Bonner Scholar, Eden Ellison, was as excited as I was. But after two weeks of advertising and hearing a wide range of comments, both positive and negative, I wasn’t sure how it was going to be received.”
Given her concerns, Mellendorf was thrilled when, on Thursday morning, bare feet were visible in groups all across campus. Union College administrators were even seen walking barefoot into Board of Trustees meetings.
David Miller, Union’s college minister, was one of 32 Union people who also participated in the mile-long walk without shoes to help raise donations for the cause.
Miller posted before-and-after pictures of his bare feet on Facebook.
“After it’s all over, I clean my feet as best I can and discover just how bruised I am,” he wrote beneath a photo of his bruised soles.
His painful feet seemed a small inconvenience when compared to the experience of others, he said.
“My own experience strengthened my resolve not only to give charitably that others may have shoes, but also to work for equitable and just social, political and economic structures that would make shoelessness a thing of the past,” Miller said.
Union’s One Day Without Shoes event garnered several pairs of donated shoes that will be distributed to local organizations and an organization in Brazil. TOMS Shoes will donate one pair of shoes for every pair collected at events around the world. According to the business’s Web site, more than a quarter million people participated in the event.
