CGI 2008

A few colleagues and I attended the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference in NYC earlier this month, and there are some really exciting things to share! At the closing Plenary Session, Former President Bill Clinton announced that TOMS Shoes will give 100,000 pairs of TOMS shoes to Haitians affected by Hurricane Ike as a key part of a larger giving commitment.

We are partnering with some really prestigious organizations and people on this initiative, who will be providing 20,000 families food every month; supplying 36,000 farmers with seeds, fertilizer, and training; providing five million liters of clean drinking water; rebuilding thousands of homes; improving education for more than 600,000 students; rebuilding two destroyed bridges; and rebuilding twelve schools.

I can't tell to you how keyed up I am to have TOMS be a part of this project. President Clinton mentioned that, "The losses were so great in Haiti, but the talent and yearning for a better future is also great," and this is what TOMS is about: building a better tomorrow, together.



Those who will be partnering with us include Rene Preval, President of Haiti; Dr. Paul Farmer; Greg Allgood, Director of Children's Safe Drinking Water/Proctor & Gamble; Ray Offenheiser, President of OXFAM America; Wyclef Jean, Founder of Yele Haiti Foundation; Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie; Frank McKenna, Chairman, and Matt Damon, Spokesman for ONEXONE; Richard Roe, President of Open Learning Exchange; Ad Melkert, Under Secretary General and Associate, UNDP; Ronaldo Gonzalez Bunster, Founder of Dominican Republic Energy; Steve Green, The Green Family Foundation; Richenda Van Leeuwen, Founding Board Member of Good Energies; Ted Widmer, Brown University/Director of the Carter Library; Ruth Messenger, Director of the American Jewish World Service; Bill Lowry, Haitian Education Leadership Program; Lisa Hamilton, President of the UPS Foundation; and Dennis O'Brian, Haiti's largest cellular phone provider.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to speak at a cool event in NYC called the Community Leadership Awards. This award ceremony was hosted by the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, a non-profit that harnesses the volunteer efforts of members of the financial industry.

What amazed me about this group of financial planners is that each had their own initiative that personally reflects their passion, and each project was the result of seeing a problem that they wanted to help. The diversity and sustainability of these projects is really inspiring. To me, this is what life is all about… taking what you love to do and applying your skills and passion to helping others.

I would like to highlight a few of really great people that were honored at this event:

Elizabeth Vertarano helped to create a crisis hotline and emergency shelter in Lawrence County, PA for victims of domestic abuse. Since 1981, the shelter has provided women with housing, emotional counseling, and legal and medical advice.

Richard England, Jr has volunteered for the past 15 years with the Latin American Youth Center, a Washington DC organization that services over 4000 low-income families. With the help of friends and colleagues, Richard created a $5 million fund to ensure the organization’s financial stability.

Marc Turner uses his passion for basketball to help inner city kids get off the street. For the past 16 years, Marc has served as a part-time coach at the Church Farm School in Paoli, PA. In 2005, Marc mobilized 50 kids to support relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Frank Martin has volunteered for the past ten years mentoring underprivileged kids. In 2001, Frank created DreamsWork Inc, an organization that offers one-on-one tutoring and college scholarships to promising students.

I also had a fantastic conversation with Rance Crain, the President of Crain Publications, about my vision for TOMS, and I think he became a believer. We joked about the fact that I was featured in Advertising Age’s top 30 under 30 several years back when I was running Reality Central Cable Network. Rance also invited me to speak at his IDEA Conference later this month which I am really excited about.

Bill Bisson, the group publisher and editorial director of Investment News was very supportive as well, and several people told me later in the night that Bill was talking about coming to work for TOMS. While he was obviously kidding, hopefully he will join us on a shoe drop sometime soon.

At the end of this event, participants were given an opportunity to help sponsor a volunteer on a future Shoe Drop. I would like to thank everyone that contributed… we are EXTREMELY excited to find out how much money was raised! Fingers crossed ☺

Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone at Invest in Others that that helped make this event possible. Thank you Kandis for your very kind words! Allison and Stephanie: You guys planned an INCREDIBLE evening. I would be honored to take part in future events!

Rance Crain (President and Editorial Director, Crain
Communications Inc), Me, Jim Pavia (Editor, InvestmentNews), Suzanne
Siracuse (Publisher, InvestmentNews), Kandis Bates, (President, Invest
in Others Charitable Foundation)

Making a Difference At Every Age

When I spoke at the Community Leadership Awards last week in NYC, I met a gentleman named Krisha Pendyala. Krisha told me about the AMAZING project his kids, Nyan and Lehka, have been working on.

I have been telling everyone I know about this project and I hope that you guys do to…

Nyan and Lehka, ages 9 and 7, are determined to fight the terrible problem of blindness in India. There are 320,000 blind children in India – more than any other country in the world. Nyan and Lehka’s goal is raise money to support the training of eye doctors. They hope to create 5 pediatric eye care centers to screen 5 million children and provide care to 725,000. To learn more, check out this You Tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEGLsibDjRE

Nyan & Lekha have been working for over a year to raise money for their project “Kids for Sight”. So far, they have raised over $20,000… $1200 of which they have personally donated by sacrificing birthday presents. Talk about young people making a difference!

‘Kids for Sight’ has made it to the Top 25 out of 1,190 projects in a contest sponsored by American Express. Our goal is to help Nyan & Lekha make it into the finals. In early October, there will be another voting to determine how much each of the finalists wins ($100k to $1.5 million).

I just voted for Nyan & Lekha. It is really easy:

Step 1: Vote

To vote, go to the link below:

http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/8CEPG6

In order to vote, you must be an AMEX cardholder. If you are not, you can sign up very easily on this site.

Step 2: Tell your friends!

Encourage 4 of your friends to vote for Nyan & Lekha. Promote them on your Myspace, Facebook… use everything you got!

Step 3: Vote again in October when Nyan & Lekha make the finals.


Time is running out to vote… please do so ASAP.

Good luck Nyan & Lekha!

Charity Water

Recently I visited some of the Charity Water sites in Ethiopia and was blown away by the crisis. Tomorrow my very good friend Scott Harrison is drilling a new well inNorthern Ethiopia and you can watch it live on his website. If you don't already know what Charity Water is about, please check out their September campaign.

http://www.charitywater.org

TOMS Wrap Boot

Check out www.NoPoloWidow.com to purchase the Wrap Boot and watch the No Polo Widow film!

Back To School

I know I’ve mentioned how great our interns here at HQ are, but I also need to let you all know about our dedicated Campus Reps. TOMS Shoes has young people across the country volunteering their time to spread the word about our company. They are our High School reps and our College Reps, and they throw super Style Your Sole parties and educate their communities about One for One. The school year is about to rev up, and we already have some great Campus Reps on board for Fall. Now begins their hard work and planning to make a difference this semester. I have total faith in all of them to represent TOMS Shoes in the best way possible, and to help get more shoes on people’s feet around the world!

If you’re interested in representing TOMS on your campus, we are still accepting applications. Check out www.tomsshoes.com/jointheteam.

In a couple weeks I will be heading back to Argentina for a very special Shoe Drop. This past year, we held an internal contest for our sales reps across the country- set a goal on how many TOMS you will sell, and make it happen. A “Dash to the Drop,” we called it. Those who reached their goal have been invited on a shoe drop in Mendoza, Argentina- all expenses paid. But we even extended the offer to those who came close, because at the end of the day, the Shoe Drops are what make people truly passionate about TOMS.

Everyone who attends a Shoe Drop in Argentina has the great pleasure of befriending an incredible man whom many call my long lost brother in Argentina, but much funnier: Alejo Nitti. Alejo joined me when starting TOMS Shoes…..literally in his barn two and a half years ago, and although he was an accountant by trade and a professional polo player at the time, he soon became TOMS Shoes’ Chief Shoe Maker. While on a past-due visit to the States a couple weeks ago, Alejo resigned from this position and knighted Sean Scott (Head of Development) our new Chief Shoe Maker (yes, there was a sword present and a cape made of original TOMS fabric was worn). Alejo has taken on such a greater role to utilize his presence in Argentina. He now oversees all of the Shoe Drops there (we soon will have a Shoe Drop take place every 2 weeks, open to anyone who is passionate about TOMS!), and helps to coordinate the trips along with another fantastic gentleman, Pepe.

I can’t wait to be in Argentina with a group of incredible TOMS sales reps who are working so hard to promote our brand, and also to spend some great times with Alejo.


If you’re interested in going on a shoe drop, please click here to learn more
www.FriendsofTOMS.org