Barefoot Northwestern students braved the cold spring weather Thursday to raise awareness for children who can’t afford shoes.

Members of the NU TOMCats organized One Day Without Shoes in collaboration with TOMS Shoes, a shoe company with a one-for-one policy that promises to donate a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair of shoes purchased. NU was one of many schools and organizations that participated in the international event. Twelve students met at The Arch at 3 p.m. to walk up Sheridan Road barefoot and loop back along the Lakefill.

The concept of Thursday’s event was simple, said Ryan Arrendell, president of the TOMCats.

“It’s not a big deal to go one day without shoes,” the Medill freshman said. “When you have them it’s not a big deal, but your whole life without shoes is hard.”

The barefoot walk was supposed to end at North Beach with a DJ and food but was cut short due to the overcast and cool weather. Arrendell encouraged students to go barefoot when they were indoors if they were not willing to take off their shoes outside.

“It’s cold and no one wants to have cold feet,” Arrendell said. “It’s a lot to ask people to do that, but when you think about people going barefoot in all seasons, it’s not that big of a sacrifice.”

Many students only took their shoes off for the walk along Sheridan, but some went barefoot all day. Weinberg junior Jason Catanese heard about the event last year and decided to participate all day this year.

“So many people every day have to deal with having no shoes,” he said. “So it really isn’t that hard to go through one day like that.”

Despite the event having 378 attendees on Facebook, many people kept their shoes on all day. Alex Ellison said she heard about the event but was not participating.

“I guess I’m the kind of person where, if it’s an issue of symbolism over substance, I don’t see the point,” the Weinberg senior said. “I might go buy a pair now that I know about it though.”

TOMS Shoes aims to raise awareness about the sanitary dangers of children going without shoes, according to the company Web site. In many countries, children cannot attend school without shoes. One Day Without Shoes is an international event established by TOMS to raise awareness of their product and the issues children face when they can’t afford shoes.

Arrendell had been a fan of TOMS since her freshman year of high school. She started the NU chapter of the club with Weinberg freshman Shaun Chaudhary last fall.

“It was tough at first,” said Chaudhary, the TOMCats’ vice president. “But we started gathering followers and got the ball rolling.”

The TOMCats have more events planned the rest of the year to raise money and awareness for their cause. One Day Without Shoes was their first large-scale event at NU.

Arrendell said their ultimate goal is to buy shoes from TOMS and donate them to children in need. She said because of the TOMS one-for-one policy, this effort will have double the effect.

“It’s not just about consuming their product,” Arrendell said. “It’s also about consuming their lifestyle and message.”[email protected]