A Challenge to Put Your Best Foot Forward

50 000 Shoes in 50 DaysI just bought two pairs of shoes for only $5 and you can too.

Soles4Souls is an international charity which is dedicated to providing free footwear to people in desperate need.

Today marks the launch of a new fundraising website, 50000shoes.com and they’re challenging bloggers and social media users to raise funds for 50,000 pairs of new shoes in 50 days.

The challenge begins today, Monday the 10th of November 2008 and will end on the final day of 2008.

Soles4Souls Founder and CEO, Wayne Elsey says that by tapping into existing networks they hope to achieve a critical mass and see their goal reached.

“We have been utilizing the basic Web-based marketing tools such as e-mail blasts, social networking and YouTube videos. However, this website, 50000shoes.com, is the natural evolution of our viral marketing plan. A strong grass-roots effort, combined with an effective web-based social marketing platform, will allow Soles4Souls to form online community in a creative manner while being effective with raising funds and helping those in need.”

Donating is easy and takes just a click and a couple of minutes. It requires no shipping, no wrapping and no trips to the post office. The donation is small with $5.00 buying two pairs of new shoes. Anyone can click and give. I’m not asking you to do something I wouldn’t do myself. I’ve just donated and I’m asking that you do the same by visiting 50000shoes.com.

After 50,000 pairs have been donated, one person from the US (with a guest of their choosing) will be selected at random to deliver the shoes they purchased to someone in need on one of Soles4Souls’ trips to Mexico!

Nashville based Soles4Souls facilitates the donations of both new and used shoes, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Since its inception, Soles4Souls has distributed more than 3.5 million pairs (or one pair every 23 seconds) to people in 61 countries, including Honduras, Romania, Thailand, and the Sudan.



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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