To empathise with thousands of underprivileged children, pupils of Penryn College and Penryn Prep came to school barefoot on Tuesday.
Despite the winter chill, a large number of pupils took up the challenge and brought a pair of shoes to school to donate to charity. Shoes ranged from stylish leopard-print wedges and flip flops to sport shoes and boots.
The international “One Day without Shoes”, created by Toms, is celebrated all over the world by people from all walks of life spending a day barefoot. Toms is a company that aims to help those in need all over the world by matching every pair of shoes bought from them, with a new pair for a child in need.
Penryn College takes part in this initiative every year, but this was the first year in which the prep school also joined.
The organisers hoped that by feeling the discomfort of walking barefoot, people were able to empathise with the thousands of underprivileged children who spend every day without shoes. Penryn said this year’s efforts were once again successful and the pupils were very generous in their donations.
To commemorate the day, the prep’s foundation-phase teachers wrote the date and occasion in shoes and a group of learners posed with it. A group of the high school pupils gathered on one of the sport fields and created awareness by forming the word Toms and taking a photo of the event.
Penryn was glad to see that a simple project really could make a difference in the community and thanked everyone who participated.
