Nora Clougherty, president of the TOMS club, said she felt it was important for people to know that TOMS gives back in more ways than just their "One for One" shoe campaign.
“This day goes along with their TOMS sunglasses [campaign], for when you purchase a pair of their sunglasses, either prescription glasses or eye surgery is given to people in need,” she said. “In turn you are helping to give sight, one for one, just as all of their other [TOMS] products do."
The TOMS club reached the SMC community with a table in the student center where they distributed tattoos and stickers to both students and non-students.
To spread the message further, Clougherty said the club offered photo props and sunglasses to people to pose with in order to share pictures on their social media.
“Throughout the whole day we asked participants to use #GiveSight when posting pictures,” she said. “It could have been pictures of them in their sunglasses spreading the movement or of a view that they were grateful to see everyday.”
Clougherty said she thought the club was very successful in helping people learn more about TOMS and spreading awareness of World Sight Day.
“This is an issue that many people don’t know about or even know that it can be easily cured,” she said. “We had countless people coming up to the table asking why we were wearing our sunglasses.”
The TOMS SMC Club also has several other events planned for the rest of the year, Clougherty said.
“We want to have a 'Style Your Sole' party where you purchase a pair of classic TOMS [shoes], and we all come together to paint them,” she said. “Our biggest event is in the spring for 'One Day Without Shoes.'”
Clougherty said the purpose of "One Day Without Shoes" is to encourage people to go barefoot for an entire day so that someone else does not have to.
“One of the main goals of the TOMS SMC campus club is to simply spread the message of 'One for One' and what TOMS does and how you can participate or help in the cause,” she said.
