Eight-year-old Madison Montgomery paraded barefoot down a sidewalk Tuesday night with her father, little sister and about 125 other children, parents and residents.
The participants of the one-mile walk from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA to the Chapel Hill Police Department and back joined thousands worldwide who shed their shoes to raise awareness of children in developing countries without shoes.
The walk ended the YMCA’s first participation in the fourth annual One Day Without Shoes event, sponsored by TOMS Shoes, a company that donates one pair of shoes to impoverished children for every pair sold.
Madison, who is enrolled in the YMCA’s after-school program, said she walked for fun.
“(I walked) for people who have no shoes,” she said.
During the past month at the YMCA, she said she learned about TOMS and the importance of shoes for children in developing countries.
“We talked about how people can get diseases,” she said.
Greg Lee, senior membership and marketing director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, said TOMS’ mission aligns well with the YMCA’s goal of social responsibility.
“The message that we want to share — TOMS’ message — is there’s still a lot of things we take for granted everyday that other people in the world don’t have,” he said. “Shoes are like a luxury for them — the stuff we have in our closet that we don’t even wear anymore.”
