TOMS shoes have become increasingly popular over the past few years. These shoes provide a fashionable trend and as many people know, they attend to people’s needs all over the world as well.

With TOMS shoes being so popular, it was just a matter of time before a club hit Carlsbad High School. Junior Stephanie O’Loughlin plans to start this club with the start of the second semester.

“It started from the founder, Blake, who traveled to the Amazon and just saw so many people that lacked simple necessitates such as shoes,” junior Stephanie O’Loughlin said.  “It started with the idea that when anyone bought a pair of the Tom’s shoes (that were originally made from simple ‘canvas’ fabric to get a feel of what the people in the Amazon wore)  100% of all proceeds would go to helping out people who are poverty stricken.”

With an interest in the fashion aspect of the shoes, O’Loughlin looked into gaining an internship with the brand, but quickly learned of an even better way to spread the incredible message of these shoes.

“I got in involved last summer trying to find internships; I looked at TOMS because I bought my first pair end of eighth grade before they were big, so I knew about the movement,” O’Loughlin said. “By my sophomore year they were so well known I decided to apply for an internship, but while stumbling upon the website, I saw Tom’s campus club banner and applied.”

This new club will potentially bring awareness to students about ways which they can help not only their immediate community, but all those in need around the world. In addition to raising excitement for the club, O’Loughlin hopes to inspire other to serve those in need by hosting activities during and after school.

“The club activities will include trying to start TOMS Tuesdays, which is where we will try to get as many people as possible to wear their TOMS on Tuesdays, and then A Day without Shoes is April 10th and it’s the big event of the TOMS movement,” O’Loughlin said. “Finally there is the block party: this is where we will screen the documentary of the founding of TOMS. It’s going to be fun, there will be prizes like bags and t-shirts and signed copies of the founder’s book and obviously–shoes!”

Club founders hope utilizing a popular shoe brand to reach out to students will spark further outreach clubs and organizations around campus. TOMS Shoes can be seen on a myriad of people around the school, so it is time we TOMS-wearing students banded together to make a difference.

“I wish to see that everyone at Carlsbad is aware of the fact that we are so fortunate to have simple things like shoes in our everyday lives,” O’Loughlin said. “We usually tend to take those things for granted.”