Persuasive Speech Outline (TOMS Foundation) Steven Smith

Stats about Shoes: o The average American woman owns 19 pairs of shoes. o The average American man owns 7 to 8 pairs of shoes. y Hundreds of thousands of children living in impoverished countries live their day-to-day life with no shoes to wear. o Studies show that if the world were a village of 100 people, 40 of them wouldn t have shoes. y Why are shoes important? 1. In many developing countries children must walk several miles to school, to access clean water, and to obtain medical help. 2. Hundreds of millions of children around the world are at risk for injury, infection, and soil-transmitted diseases. The majority of these children don t have access to medical treatment, or prevention programs for these diseases. 3. In some countries, shoes are a requirement in schools. If a child doesn t have shoes, they cannot attend school. 4. A healthy student = A successful student. Healthy and educated children have a better chance of improving their future, and that of their entire community as well. The TOMS foundation o The TOMS foundation sells shoes for the benefit of children without them in developing countries. o For every pair of TOMS shoes that is bought, a pair is donated to a child that doesn t have any. o One for One o TOMS donates shoes to children living in Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina, Nicaragua, Haiti, Honduras, Peru, Uganda, and many more. They give to 30 total countries. o As of September 2010, TOMS had donated 1,000,000 shoes to children living in developing countries. As of today they have far exceeded that number. o Along with shoes, TOMS also sells sunglasses. All proceeds of sunglasses sales go towards providing eye care and prescription glasses to people living in countries without access to such treatment.  90% of eye problems are curable given the right treatment. o Shoes and sunglasses are available online (at www.toms.com), in stores, and in their seasonal catalog. y