My Favorite Bracelet

I have this bracelet that my friend Marcus gave me. It's pretty simple - red and black, and made from reeds. The cool thing about it is that it was hand made in Uganda and the cash that Marcus paid for it went to help put children in Uganda through school.

The Bracelet Campaign is just one of the cool things that Invisible Children is doing to change people's lives around the world. A quick run-down on Invisible Children:

Three young college filmmakers, Jason, Bobby and Laren traveled to Africa in the spring of 2003 in search of a story. When they witnessed how the unseen war in Northern Uganada was affecting the children there they were both "disgusted and inspired". They told their stories in Invisible Children: Rough Cut, a documentary about their experieneces in Uganda. The complete story, The Final Cut, is coming to theatres soon. Keep your eyes out for it!

Becuase of these experiences, Jason, Bobby and Laren went beyond the film and founded Invisble Children, a nonprofit working to transform apathy into activism. They have many campaigns in addition to the bracelet campagin mentioned above, and I could never do this organization justice in a blog post. So... check out the website - http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php - it's really powerful, really cool, and really inspiring. Also... here's a link to one of my favorite Invisbile Children videos... it's short - and the message applies to so much more than just this singular cause... please take a minute to watch it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JUwYkiKWlI

PS - thanks for the bracelet Marcus! :)

Shoes for Tomorrow

When I first started this blog I knew that one of the first people/companies I wanted to share was this one:

TOMS

(Shoes for Tomorrow)

So, what's so special about TOMS? It's pretty simple:

My (healthy) obsession with TOMS began last year when my friend forwarded me a job post... She said it was with a really cool company that made her think about me. Well, I wasn't looking for a new job, but it sounded interesting, so I checked out their website.

I was surprised and inspired by the story I found there.

In a nutshell, this guy Blake

went to Argentina on vacation in 2006. While he was there he was stricken by the poverty he saw, especially among children. Many children couldn't afford shoes to wear, and as a result were contracting some pretty nasty diseases through their feet. (Let that sink if for a moment. NO SHOES. And because of that, they were getting sick. Can you even imagine? The reality of that situation is so hard for me to grasp when i have a closet full of shoes I only wear with certain outfits.) Anyway...

That could've easily been the end of the story, but it's not.

Blake designed a simple canvas shoe based on the traditional Argentine alpargata.

That May Blake started selling the shoes from his apartment with a simple philosophy: for every shoe he sold he'd give one to a child in need. By October of that year he'd sold over 10,000 pairs and in turn delivered 10,000 pairs to Argentina in what TOMS calls a shoe drop.

Since then TOMS has given away over 130,000 pairs of shoes and plans to give over 300,000 more this year.

After learning more about TOMS I was sold. I purchased a pair for myself and for every staff member of the Washington Leadership Conference last year. Because the conference was about service, I figured TOMS were the perfect shoes for us to sport all summer. We got white shoes, had a party, and painted them... TOMS calls it "Style Your Sole." http://styleyoursole.tomsshoes.com/ (We each painted ours to represent an area of service we were committed to).

We had a ton of fun and all ended up with a very unique pair of shoes!

Me painting my shoes:

The group modeling our finished products:

Reasons I love wearing TOMS:

1. They're very comfy

2. They're unique

3. I always get asked about them when I wear them, which gives me an opportunity to share the story about a cool company making the world better.

There is definitely a color and design for everyone:

And they don't just sell shoes. They have some pretty sweet other merchandise, like my most recent purchase:It combines my favorite shoes with my favorite quote! And the "one for one" applies to anything you buy from TOMS - so you buy a t-shirt, hat, etc... a kid gets a pair of shoes!

All this being said, here's what is most incredible and ispiring to me about this company: The founder,

Blake Mycoskie.

This is a guy, pretty young, who saw a need in the world ... and then - get this -

DID something ABOUT it.

To me, Blake is proof that we really can change the world. That one person can make a difference. It all started selling some canvas shoes out of his apartment... and now, 130,000 lives are better because of him.

So what does it mean for us? Realistically, most of us are probably not called to start a company of such magnitude. But... every time I put on my TOMS I'm reminded of how lame my excuses are for not doing more to make the world a better place. If Blake Mycoskie can do so much in such a short time, we can all do a little more... whether it's making the extra effort to separate trash and recyclables, volunteering for a local cause, giving a little more to the charity we support, or even making a commitment to seek out and buy from compainies that give back, like TOMS. It's just about changing our mindset to realize that what we do does matter... and that

WE

CAN

Change the World.

Read more about the TOMS story or buy some shoes at http://www.tomsshoes.com/, and check out this cool video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD4f-KkAqwM.

Peace, love & TOMS :)