Taylor Rollins photo: TOMS paints a mural with a variety of colors to show off what it is all about.

This year, as a way to spread awareness of the TOMS One Day without Shoes, a large group of students got together and made history with the first ever “foot dub” video.

TOMS is a shoe company that has popularly adopted a “one for one” policy for their shoe sales. For every pair of shoes they sell, one pair is donated to people of need in Third World countries. The TOMS One Day Without Shoes is an event put on by TOMS every year to promote their cause and spread awareness of extreme poverty in the world.

The video, created by Mercyhurst’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) president Joe Pudlick and senior Casey Krein, features over 70 Mercyhurst students from different clubs and organizations as well as various faculty and administration officials, dancing in their bare feet to “We Come Running” by Youngblood Hawke.

“We were thankful to get so many people involved to support the TOMS philosophy,” said Krein. “I think most departments were up to get involved because TOMS is not just promoting their products. They are also trying to raise awareness for citizens in underdeveloped countries that are below the poverty line lacking the ability to purchase shoes, which can affect health, education and even self-esteem.”

Shortly after the video was released on the Internet it was noticed by the TOMS company itself, and it was included as part of their annual thank you video, thanking people and groups that made a significant contribution to the Day Without Shoes.

“The video being featured by TOMS was truly the ultimate goal,” said Pudlick. “This project was a full learning opportunity beginning with the challenges that came with creating the vision, orchestrating it, editing it and publicizing it.”

But the hard work paid off for Pudlick, the large crew involved in the video and for Mercyhurst University as a whole.

“We are the only university in the world that was pulled out in the TOMS annual thank you video,“ Pudlick said.

Mercyhurst TOMS club President, Adrianne LaGruth, was excited to see the foot dub video featured on the thank you video.
Taylor Rollins photo: A collage of pictures shows off what TOMS is all about.

“I am ecstatic and overjoyed about our video reaching all the way to headquarters,” said LaGruth. “It means a lot to put Mercyhurst University’s TOMS Club on their map and radar. This success is such a big win for me and for the club.”

The TOMS One Day Without Shoes happens every year, and there’s no doubt that TOMS Club members are already thinking of ways to top this year’s video.

Students interested in joining TOMS club can contact Adrianne LaGruth at alagru01@lakers.mercyhurst.edu.