TOM Shoes

On Monday, April 4 the International Festival Committee partnered with the Student Government Association (SGA) and hosted an event entitled "Tom's Shoes," in the Art Gallery of the ABC building. The idea of this project came from Jennifer Turner, the UB Community Service Coordinator, who had prior experiences working with the Tom Shoes brand.

Tom's Shoes, who are based out of Santa Monica, California, is a company that donate one pair of their shoes to a child in need with every purchase of any of their shoe products. On April 5, they hosted "A Day without Shoes" in which people who participated in the cause go the day barefoot to raise awareness about the dangers of living without shoes.

Ellen Roberts, a member of the International Festival Committee and an intern at the university's Leadership Development Program hosted the Tom's Shoes event, believes collaborating with the company is a win-win situation.

"This is the very first time UB is hosting a Tom's Event," Roberts said. "They do cater to college campuses and it's called the (Style your sole) event and the proceeds that we get in the auction will go towards Red Cross Relief Efforts in Japan."

During International Festival Week, SGA donated $ 1,000 towards 25 new pairs of Tom's Shoes and various clubs on campus had the opportunity to decorate plain white shoes with materials such as glitter, acrylic paint and fabric makers, while using their own creativity. The shoes that were created went towards the silent auction at the International Festival last Saturday. At the end of the night, the highest bidder received the decorated pair of shoes that went towards the relief funds.

"I want to raise Awareness about Tom Shoes and the Tom Shoes PR project to raise social justice issues to make it a conversation that people maybe talk about while decorating the shoes," Roberts said.

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