They were walking throughout campus without shoes.

They weren’t barefoot because of the nice weather or because their flip-flops broke. Members of the TOMS Campus Club were participating in the national One Day Without Shoes event sponsored by TOMS Shoes to raise awareness of the lack of availability of shoes throughout the world.

Club members, along with others who knew about the event, were spreading awareness of the 40 percent of the world’s population that don’t have access to shoes. Members handed out fliers outside Parks Library and throughout a march around campus, featuring facts about the effects that not having shoes has on people.

The club was met with mixed reactions from passersby. Some asked questions about the event’s purpose then took their shoes off, while others took their fliers and proceeded to walk away. Whether or not people removed their shoes, awareness was the main aspect of the group’s demonstration.

“I love TOMS Shoes,” said Paige Baenen, sophomore in apparel, merchandising and design production and TOMS Campus Club member. “I think it’s such a great cause to just raise awareness, because some people are just completely oblivious about the children that are in need in different countries, they’re just concerned about themselves.”

“Some of the people that walk by are just like, ‘Yeah, no, no thanks,’ and they complain that their feet are going to hurt, but kids are walking around in other countries barefoot all day. We’ve got nice, paved ground to walk on, but they’re walking on sharp walks and terrible things … so I say, ‘Why not just do it for one day.'”

The large amount of people throughout the world that go without shoes and the impact that not having shoes has on people’s health compelled Devon O’Brien, club president and junior in journalism and mass communication, to bring the national event to the ISU campus.

“Almost half of the people in the world go without shoes, and that’s something that here in Iowa doesn’t necessarily occur to people,” O’Brien said. “I alone have at least 25 pairs of shoes, so I don’t think it would occur to students on the [ISU] campus that people go without shoes.”

“When I found out that 40 percent of people didn’t have them I wanted to do something to spread awareness of that.”

Some students outside of the TOMS Campus Club chose to go without shoes the whole day on their own accord. The event was heavily advertised online by TOMS itself and groups similar to Iowa State’s TOMS Campus Club that advocate the work TOMS does to provide shoes to those who don’t have access to them with their one-for-one business model.

“It’s a good message because kids without shoes need shoes and it’s a day without shoes to raise awareness for that,” said Lynne Reiter, sophomore in sociology. “It’s a big issue that [people] need to know about.”

“Shoes are an important thing and on the TOMS site it [says] that shoes are a sign of status and we have so much of it we don’t even notice and we need to raise awareness for kids who need it.”