How many pairs of shoes do you think the average person owns? 5? 10? 20? …30?

Ten years ago it was estimated that men own an average of 12 pairs of shoes, while women own an average of 27 pairs, putting the overall average at 20 pairs of shoes per person. Assuming that those numbers have remained static over the past decade, that’s 6 billion pairs of shoes spread among the approximately 300 million people in the US, minus Cody Lundin who hasn’t worn shoes for more than 20 years and Richard Hudgins, who went barefoot for a year to help complete strangers.

Inspired by one retailer’s “A Day Without Shoes” campaign, Richard Hudgins decided to take things one step further and go for an entire year without wearing shoes. His goal was to raise awareness about and money for children in underdeveloped nations who do not have shoes. “As a human being,” he said in an interview, “[I] have a responsibility to help others.” At the conclusion of the campaign, he collaborated with Nasha Ministries, a local non-profit with an outreach in Narok, Kenya, to deliver shoes purchased with the nearly $10,000 he was able to raise.

According to the World Health Organization, because they are barefoot and live in areas with poor sanitation, approximately “2 billion people are infected with soil-transmitted helminths worldwide” including roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm. Children who become infected suffer physically, nutritionally, developmentally, and cognitively. “Over 270 million preschool-age children and over 600 million school-age children live in areas where these parasites are intensively transmitted”. Educating parents and improving living conditions are a top priority in these areas, but until conditions improve the easiest and fastest way to help is provide shoes to the men, women, and children in affected areas.

The importance of a pair of shoes is something that we understand well here at EcoGoodz. We work closely with some of the most well-known and trusted charitable institutions in the US to collect quality used shoes for shipments to and distribution in developing nations. Like Hudgins, we want to “inspire people to do good for others.” We urge you to take a look in your own closet. Are there shoes you don’t need, want, or wear?–shoes that might bless the life of someone else? If so, please donate them to your local thrift store or charity! Together we can make a difference in the life of a stranger, whether locally or abroad.