It’s easy to see all the good things that groups are doing by reading the news.  We think that sometimes, when you dig a bit deeper, you’ll get a great story.  We try to find that unreported story or that group that is on their way up to give you a better idea of student life here at Mizzou.  Feel free to peruse the archives section to read previous years’ honorees.

The Group of the Month for NOVEMBER is:

ONE FOR ONE AT MIZZOU

One for One President Brittany Heenan told us a little bit about what this organization is all about:

    One For One is a very new organization at Mizzou. We were recently founded in late September 2009. Two girls, Aleigh McKay and Megan Pieper, decided to start the process of becoming an organization after they were TOMS Shoes Campus Representatives last year. They had the help of Brittany Heenan, current TOMS Shoes Campus Representative, who helped to finish the logistics of the process. The group was started with the purpose of raising awareness about the issue of poverty in our community and in the world.

    TOMS Shoes inspired this mission with their goal of giving shoes to children in need. We have taken their goal one step further by realizing that children here in Columbia are in need of shoes as well. Our big goal this year is to choose a charity or children’s organization to raise funds for and ultimately buy shoes to give to the children. 

    Since we have become an organization we have had two fundraising events: a Shakespeare’s Day and a Bake Sale. Saturday we will be walking barefoot in the Homecoming Parade. We are walking barefoot to symbolize children in the world who walk barefoot everyday. It’s hard to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes when they don’t have shoes to walk in.

    Blake Mycoskie, Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, is coming to speak at Jesse Hall on Tuesday October 27th at 7pm. We have been promoting this event on campus because we feel it is important for people to hear the TOMS Story. In fact, we are planning to screen the TOMS Story on November 12th at 7pm in Geological Sciences to spread the word even further. The following week, November 19th, we are have a Style Your Sole where people will have the chance to bring a pair of TOMS to paint and decorate. This event will be from 2-5pm in Memorial Union South. We are hoping to really gain members with these events so we can continue to grow and work toward our ultimate goal.

    We think our group stands out because it is such a different concept of making a difference in the world and in our community. People, especially college students, have a hard time feeling that they can change the world on their own. Now the simple act of buying a pair of shoes can truly make that change. We as One For One want to get rid of those false perceptions of being capable to make a difference and putting it into a concept that everyone at Mizzou can understand. This is a super creative way for people to give back to children in need.

    Because we are such a young group we have limited memories but Megan Pieper held a Barefoot Walk on the South Quad last Spring and there was a great turn out. It was really great to see so many people walking barefoot all day for the cause.

    Our group has 90 interested members, 30 of which are very active. We have a great group of people in One For One all who have tons of motivation and huge hearts. We would love to get more boys involved and we hope to do this through our events and handing out flyers on campus.

    One For One is an organization that truly cares about our cause. We want to reach out to as many people as we can and we would like to thank the University and the Organization Resource Group for making it possible!