Binghamton University students on Tuesday kicked off their shoes and went barefoot for a day as part of a worldwide effort to call attention to needy children who cannot afford shoes.

This was in recognition of “One Day Without Shoes,” an international event organized by TOMS Shoes, a shoe company that donates a pair of shoes to needy children around the world for every pair that it sells to raise awareness of the daily plight of those who cannot themselves afford shoes.

The event called on people everywhere to spend April 5 this year without wearing shoes — anywhere.

According to Viktorija Balsys-Spencer, a senior majoring in environmental geography, the point is not only to feel what these people without shoes feel every single day, but to raise awareness about the cause. The aim is that through shock and awe, the sight of BU students walking around barefoot will get people talking and gain momentum toward taking action for the cause.

According to the company’s website, TOMS Shoes was founded in 2006 by American Blake Mycoskie after he witnessed firsthand the problems suffered by shoeless children in Argentina. His company began a project it calls “One for One,” in which every time a pair of TOMS is purchased, a pair of new shoes is given to a child in one of 23 developing countries. Prices for a pair of TOMS start from $48.

The company’s gift of a pair of shoes allows some children to go to school who would not be able to otherwise in countries where footwear is a requirement for attendance.

TOMS Shoes reports that the lack of a pair of shoes leaves children vulnerable to diseases, parasites, cold weather and physical hardship.

“Some soil-based diseases not only cause physical symptoms, but create cognitive impairment too, crippling a child’s long-term potential,” according to information from the TOMS website. The company insists that shoes it gives to children in places like Mississippi, Guatemala, Haiti, Ethiopia and China assists in improving their health, education and breaking out of the poverty cycle.

Balsys-Spencer had been working to bring participation in Tuesday’s One Day Without Shoes event to campus. She said that she began efforts about a month and a half ago to get the word out about One Day Without Shoes along with members of the Food Co-op and SUNY VINES, the event’s campus sponsors.

According to Balsys-Spencer, the two groups became involved because they share a common commitment to justice and egalitarianism and their sponsorship allows the event to be SA-chartered.

“The day is not about fundraising, it is about bringing awareness so people know,” Balsys-Spencer said. “There are children in developing countries that want to go to school but are not able to because they don’t have shoes.”

Balsys-Spencer said she first found out about TOMS Shoes and its humanitarian work through a summer job in which her boss required all of his employees to purchase a pair of TOMS shoes for their work attire.

The dictum inspired her to get involved with the company’s mission herself.

On April 5, there was a screening of a documentary at 5 p.m. in Old University Union room 111 on the conditions children who lack footwear must endure worldwide.

The weather on April 5 proved to be a cold and rainy day in Binghamton, but Balsys-Spencer said that the TOMS company had selected the date strategically.

“[April 5] was chosen … to experience walking barefoot on a day that isn’t too cold, but isn’t too warm either,” she said.

Camilo Rincon, a junior majoring in industrial engineering, said he would not go barefoot on Tuesday but would show his support by wearing a TOMS T-shirt. Another student, Anamol Bisht, a junior majoring in financial economics who has done volunteer work in Nepal with a not-for-profit organization that brings food and water to impoverished people, said that he also would not go barefoot because he does not agree that one should have to suffer in order to help the cause.

“I don’t want to go barefoot in rainy weather in order to get the word out — I don’t think that’s the right way to go about it,” Bisht said.

Those who don’t find the concept of spending the day barefoot palatable can still support TOMS by purchasing T-shirts on its official website bearing the logo “One Day Without Shoes.” The shirts start at $28.

More information about One Day Without Shoes is available online at www.onedaywithoutshoes.com.