Going barefoot raises awareness

By LAUREL WILSON The Daily News lwilson@bgdailynews.com/783-3240 bgdailynews.com | 0 comments

Stephanie Sidebottom of Bowling Green walks barefoot across straw, rocks and sand during a One Day Without Shoes event at Bowling Green Technical College. (Photo by Miranda Pederson/Daily News)

Members of the Bowling Green Technical College community participated Tuesday in a "One Day Without Shoes" campaign.

The goal of the event was to raise awareness and educate the community about the millions of children around the world who are at risk for injury and disease because they don't have shoes, said Director of Admissions Denna White, who helped organize a booth on campus.

"It's a bigger issue than we realize," White said.

White's children wear TOMS Shoes, the company that started the annual "One Day Without Shoes" event nationally. TOMS Shoes donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair the company sells.

As people walked by the "One Day Without Shoes" booth on BGTC's campus, White handed out fact sheets and invited them to walk barefoot over gravel, pine needles and sand so they could feel sensations that those without shoes feel all the time.

Stephanie Sidebottom of Bowling Green, a BGTC student, stopped by the booth and walked barefoot over the materials. "I love wearing no shoes - anything to help a good cause," she said.

Walking across the rocks barefoot was rough and showed Sidebottom what it's like for kids without shoes, she said.

Sidebottom said she tries to stay involved in community events because it's important to get the word out about these kinds of issues.

"If we don't have events like this, how would anyone know about it?" she said.

Student Shane Gonzalez of Barren County was more used to walking across different terrain with no shoes on, because he's been deployed three times to Afghanistan, he said.

In the 10 years he spent around the world while in the military, Gonzalez came to realize that the only way to understand someone

Donna Byrd of Bowling Green walks barefoot across straw, rocks and sand during a One Day Without Shoes event at Bowling Green Technical College. (Photo by Miranda Pederson/Daily News)

else's perspective is to experience the same thing they do, he said. Going barefoot helps people see from a shoeless child's perspective for a while.

"You've got to better understand where people come from to know where you're going," Gonzalez said.

Donna Byrd of Bowling Green, a student at BGTC, said people take having shoes for granted, but this event shows them that not everyone does.

"It's good to be a part of it and see how someone else lives," Byrd said

 

 

 

 

Kendle White (left) , 6, and Aubrey Weaver, 8, paint Brooke Justice's, all of Bowling Green, toenails during a One Day Without Shoes event at Bowling Green Technical College. (Photo by Miranda Pederson/Daily News)