50,000

This is the number of pairs of shoes, we (yes we as a human, philanthropic race) are being challenged to raise.

I dare ya.

Only $5 buys ya 2 pairs of shoes...actually, it buys a child greatly in need a pair of shoes. A barefoot, poverty stricken child...possibly an orphan, who many not know where his or her next meal will actually materialize, can be given a gift greater than you or I will ever understand.

Soles4Souls.

I am impacted by this because the vision for this charity happened after the South East Asian Tsunami in December of 2004...and Ben, myself (pregnant with Noah), and my family were all there. We felt the earth shake. We saw the mess of a once beautiful beach. We witnessed sadness. We saw first-hand the devastation in Phuket, Thailand. And I know - I am well aware - that we did not encounter or witness the worst. What we did observe was tragic.

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that hit Southeast Asia, Wayne Elsey, the Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls™ Inc., felt compelled to do something. Like many of us, he did not know what to do.

He was at home one night, watching TV and he saw a picture of a single shoe washing up on the beach. That triggered a few calls to some other executives in the footwear industry and the subsequent donation of a quarter of a million shoes to victims in the devastated countries.

A year later when Katrina hit, Wayne called the same group of friends, and they sent over a million pairs of shoes down to the gulf coast communities affected by the hurricane. In all honesty, he admits that he did not expect such an immediate and successful turnout. This left him wondering, why not start a non-profit and do this all the time? One year later, Soles4Souls was formally created.

It has been that simple: Changing the world one pair at a time.

I Dare Ya.