Auburn Student Activists

What would it be like to go a day without shoes? Better yet, what would it be like to have never even owned a pair of shoes and live every day without them?

Auburn University sophomore, Emily Crane, is the perfect person to ask. Crane is the campus representative for an organization known as Mocha Club and today, April 8, 2010, she is joining many Auburn students and TOMS Shoes in making an effort to raise awareness with the One Day Without Shoes campaign.

Mocha Club and TOMS Shoes are both awareness organizations who strive to provide for those who are not able to provide for themselves. As the campus rep for Mocha Club, Crane has organized a core team of students who are interested in the mission of the club. According to their website, www.mochaclub.org, “Mocha Club is an online community of peple giving up the cost of two mochas a month, or $7, to fund relief and development projects in Africa.”

Crane has already hosted one awareness and fundraising event on campus and today she is helping host a second. The idea behind One Day Without Shoes is to go barefoot for a day in order raise awareness for the millions of people in Africa and elsewhere who are barefoot everyday because they do not have the financial means to purchase necessities such as shoes. This is Crane’s second year to participate in One Day Without Shoes.

“Last year I felt like I was one of the only people on Auburn’s campus not wearing shoes,” Crane said. “But this year it has been so much fun to see nearly a third of the students on campus not wearing shoes. People are intrigued and interested in the shoeless students so they ask about it and learn more about TOMS, Mocha Club and other organizations that benefit people who have so little.”

A booth has been set up in the Student Center all day and as of 2 p.m. more than 19 students had already signed up for Mocha Club.

“Although it might hurt to step on a rock today because I don’t have shoes on, I am reminded that people without shoes in third world countries feel that pain every day,” Crane said. “I am happy to do whatever I can to raise awareness and help these people.”

Like much of Auburn’s studentbody, Emily Crane is an activist who is globally minded. Though some might think that being located in East Alabama is a hinderance to Auburn’s globalization, active students is just one of many examples of Auburn University’s diverse campus and global awareness.