VIDEOS from Gulfport!

Check out these videos from the trip to Mississippi!

CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2008/12/03/nguyen.toms.shoes.cnn.html

and TOMS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFhqQQqfS1M

Shoe Drop: Day 4

Today was the final day of the Shoe Drop. We drove along the coast to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. I saw more devastation today than any other. I thought it was difficult yesterday... Driving up the coast we saw so many concrete foundation pads with nothing built up around it, or stairs leading to nowhere because the house has destroyed by hurricanes. It was eerie to see dock after dock leading into the gulf with nothing behind it and no boats or anything anywhere. I also saw a boat in the grass right next to the highway, no real water in sight, that was a surreal sight.

I was part of a group that went to Third Street Elementary, a school that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and is now set up in trailers on the old property. In the picture below, you can see that they painted it up to make it a little "home-y-er" for the students. The school runs from kindergarten through second grade; the students have a pretty strict dress code/school uniform that they are supposed to adhere to also. Please note: my camera died after we hung out with the first group of kids, it was a bummer, but oh well, I still got some pictures for you!



Our set-up today was different, we were in a classroom, as opposed to the cafeteria or gym, as we have been. We ended up fitting the kids outside on the boardwalk and then sent them into the classroom we had set up to decorate!






I met some really cool first grade kids this morning... They got a huge kick out of designing their own shoes! Rashad, Johnathan, Christopher, and Gabriele were all in the same class, this was also something new. Previously the students came by grade, today they came class-by-class, two classes at a time, it made it easier to see who was in the same class and also easier for the students to be with their friends.




Ralphie even poked his head out for the fun today... It was too much to resist!



This week has been absolutely amazing! I have learned so much about myself and the needs of our country. I am looking forward to the next few days and weeks as I process this trip. I'll post some thoughts on all of it very soon... But for now it's bed time! It's 10:10 PM in Gulfport and I'm leaving the hotel at 4:45 AM! GOODNIGHT and see you soon!

Shoe Drop: Day 3

The Shoe Drop today was different than any of the others we have had yet. We spent the day as an entire group (all 11 of us) and with 2 schools, we have been splitting up into groups of 5 and 6 to get to 2 schools in one day until now. It worked out this way because 1 of the schools, Harper McCaughan Elementary School, is operating out of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers behind Quarles Elementary School. These schools were also different in terms of socioeconomic status of the students' families, for Quarles Elementary, we know that 40% of the students are bussed into the school from government housing.
We were lucky enough to be able to give away 809 pairs of shoes to students between the 2 schools today!



So my day started off on the right foot... I got to fit the preschoolers with developmental disabilities for their new shoes and then help them draw on them! It was incredibly amazing! Kian, Barrett, Jaden, Elias, Ashleajoy, Alex, and Andrew were fantastic and so excited about their new shoes... A few of them had really little feet and the smallest size we had with us (a 27) was still too big, but at least it gives them something to grow into!

This is Elias and Ashleajoy! They had fish and flowers and paw prints on their shoes, Ashleajoy loved watching the ceiling fans in the cafeteria.



These two boys were getting help from their teacher and Ashton, another volunteer, coloring their shoes.



Jaden is in front and Barrett is in the back in blue.



The new edition to these photos is Kian! He was a total flirt and I adored him! I think my biggest problem is that I want to bring these kids all home with me and just love on them!



These next three pictures are probably my three favorite pictures of the whole trip!



As the day went on it seemed like every time we turned around more kids were coming in to get shoes. After a group would come through we had armfuls of shoes to put away, Mary is rocking the clean-up!



This little boy made an amazing dragon on his shoe! And then there was Amaja showing off her new kicks!



One of the first things the school did after Hurricane Katrina was rebuild the playground so the students had something to do amidst all the devastation. It was a totally EPIC playground, the one at Wash Park doesn't even hold a candle to this one!



After lunch a parent volunteer brought us a giant card that all of the kindergarten kids had made, it was so cute!


Taylor made some awesome shoes with fire and skulls... They were great! These two little girls were sisters, Jordan was in 2nd grade and Lexxus was in 4th grade!



This is Bobby, our bus driver, he has been so wonderful in helping us load and unload our Uhual and today he even came in and helped the kids decorate their shoes!



The kids had us signing their shoes and loved it, so today I had them sign my Run Colorado shirt, it was awesome! Bishop made some awesome shoes before writing his name on my shirt.



Harper McCaughan's principal and guidance counselor gave us Appreciation Award Plaques, it was so sweet that had did that! They were so welcoming and really appreciated what we were doing for the kids. Many of these kids really needed the shoes, seemingly more obvious than any of the other schools. One boy, Gauge, that I helped was wearing shoes that were HUGE on him. He told me that his shoes were broken and he had to wear his brothers, the only problem was that his feet only filled half of the shoe, it was like a little kid wearing his parents shoe for dress up or something.



The next few pictures are of the school that was in FEMA trailers, it's amazing how they operate without a real building! The flag pole that is in one of the pictures is from their original school grounds. The construction crew that put up the temporary trailer set-up went over and moved the flag pole for them and then they are planning on moving to the new location when that opens up sometime in the Fall of 2009!




I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of the Shoe Drop! It's going to be so sad for it to end!