TODAY'S TURN: Slip on two pair at once

THE ISSUE:
Part of the fun of being a kid is running around barefoot, letting the mud squish between your toes and the cool grass massage your soles. But it's not quite as fun when you have cuts and blisters that get infected because you have no shoes to wear. It's what many kids in the world face, but we rarely think of shoes as a health issue.

THE GOOD TURN:
TOMS Shoes has a simple answer - for every pair of shoes the company sells, they give a pair to an impoverished child. It might sound like a marketing gimmick, but it's the soul of the company. Blake Mycoskie modeled the TOMS line on traditional alpargatas, worn by Argentinian farmers. The cardboard insole was replaced by leather, the rope sole replaced by rubber and the breathable canvas splashed with plenty of color. He believed the comfort and style of these shoes would play well in the states. and he was right. In just a year and a half, he's sold more than 60,000 pairs of TOMS, making it one of the hottest shoe brands on the west coast. Which means 60,000 kids in Argentina and South Africa received a pair of their own.

I like several things about what this guy is doing. Mostly, I just love the fact that he's using a for-profit model to do work traditionally handled by non-profits. Think about it, which is more sustainable: asking for money whenever you wanted to give shoes away, or offering something of value that creates an actual demand for your product (and, in turn, your cause). Plus they're just sweet looking shoes. Here's a great article that tells more of the story.

Click here to do this Good Turn.