Clicking for Shoes

Helping people get the footwear they need can be as easy as a click of the mouse.

Dow Footwear Solutions announced Saturday that it would donate a pair of shoes to Soles4Souls every time 20 clicks were registered on an e-card distributed by the business.

"We chose to support Soles4Souls because we wanted to make a real contribution as a global corporate citizen that is in line with the close relationship and rapport that we have built up with the footwear industry," Dow Footwear Solutions General Manager Tony Frencham said. "I would encourage our customers, partners and internal colleagues to be part of this campaign, and make this season's holiday special."

Dow Footwear Solutions provides products and material science capabilities to the footwear industry, enabling its customers to offer footwear with improved comfort, durability and lasting value.

Chris Carmichael, Soles4Souls director of communications, said the business committed to $6,000 in donations, with each dollar representing about one shoe to be shipped to those in need.

"This is definitely making an impact," he said. "Ask any of those 6,000 people who are getting new shoes what it means to them."

For many receiving the footwear, it is their only pair of sandals or shoes, which can improve their health and sometimes allow them to gain employment, Carmichael said.

It erases the stigma of poverty," he said. "It eliminates burns, scrapes and puncture wounds ... It's just another way to help on a basic level."

Soles4Souls has seen great success in getting the footwear industry involved in donating new shoes, and has begun to collect used shoes as well.

"We just crossed the three million pair mark since our inception, which was right after the Asian tsunami," Carmichael said.

Click here for the Dow Christmas Card!