Shoe company will hold charitable event at MU on Friday

COLUMBIA —The company calls the effort a Shoe Drop, and it will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday in MU's Memorial Union, rooms S203 and S207.

Here's how it works: the customer buys a pair of shoes, and California-based TOMS Shoes will donate a pair to a needy child.

According to the company's Web site, TOMS has donated 60,000 shoes in Argentina and South Africa since the company was formed in 2006. The next Shoe Drop is being organized for needy children in the U.S. The plan is to eventually distribute 200,000 pairs of shoes.

At the MU "Style Your Sole" event, customers will be able to buy a $40 white canvas shoe and then decorate it as they choose. Each pair purchased translates into a pair for a child somewhere in the world.

“The main goal of the event is to get TOMS out there – the awareness factor – and, of course, to sell out the shoes,” said Megan Pieper, an MU student who has worked for the past few months to promote the event.

For more information, go to tomsshoes.com.