Get A Warm & Fuzzy Feeling This Holiday Season With The Payless Good Shoe Project
By Tracey Lomrantz,Glamour magazine
Fact: 'Tis better to give than to receive.
Fact:Payless is making it really, really easy to do just that this season--even if you're so busy shopping, cooking, traveling, baking, entertaining, schlepping, and wrapping that you can barely get your own gift list checked off--with the Good Shoe Project.
Starting this week and continuing through February 2011, The Good Shoe Project gives shoppers a chance to purchase the Airwalk Hope shoe (above) for $19.99, and for each pair sold, the store will donate a pair to a child in need. Impoverished youth in Central America will benefit from your holiday donation thanks to a partnership with the humanitarian organization World Vision, and you'll get a cute and comfy pair of shoes for less than the price of a week's worth of lattes. The concept may look pretty familiar--TOMS shoes has been operating on what they call a "One for One" model for years, where they give away a pair for each one sold--but this isn't the first foray into shoe philanthropy for Payless.
In 2008, they launched Payless Gives Shoes 4 Kids, which has already given away $2.2 million in free shoes, in conjunction with hundreds of non-profit organizations, and the program is still hard at work this holiday season. But when customers started asking how they could get involved, too, Payless launched The Good Shoe Project in addition. "This giving program was created in direct response to feedback from our shoppers, who told us that they are passionate about helping others and want to join us in our shoe giving efforts," LuAnn Via, CEO of Payless, said in a statement. "All our philanthropic programs are aimed at democratizing giving - we work hard to make it affordable and easy for customers to help support causes important to them. For every pair of Airwalk Hope shoes purchased over the two-month period, shoppers can feel good because not only are they getting this great style at a great price, but they will be helping us place a pair of children's shoes on the feet of a child in need - a gift that is truly impactful for both the giver and the recipient."
The Hope Shoe will be available in Payless stores and on payless.com for $19.99 starting this Wednesday. Buy a pair, give a pair, and spread a little bit of joy this holiday season! What do say, dolls?
PLUS...check out Christian Louboutin's "Peace of Shoe" for charity this season!
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Photo Credit: courtesy of Payless
