Richard Hudgins, a hair stylist in Kentucky, has stripped off his shoes and socks and is going barefoot for a full year to raise money for shoeless children a world away, the Associated Press reported.
Hudgins has gone barefoot to work, to drop his daughter off at school, to shop and even to exercise at the gym, according to the AP.
Hudgins has been shoeless since early December and has nearly made it through a brutal Kentucky winter that featured several days of snow, ice and single-digit temperatures, the AP reported.
"You really do build a tolerance up," Hudgins said near his job near Louisville, according to the AP. "The ice isn't so bad; it's the snow, because the snow gets on the top of my feet."
Hudgins wants to raise $25,000 in donations by year's end and then take the money to Narok, Kenya, where children need uniforms and shoes to go to school, the AP reported. He has raised nearly $4,000 so far.
If Hudgins reaches his goal, it would buy durable shoes for more than 800 kids, said Elijah Ombati, a missionary from Kenya who has struck up a friendship with Hudgins, according to the AP.
Ombati runs a Christian group called Nasha Ministries International and splits his time between Africa and Louisville, the AP reported. Ombati said many of the needy children are orphans and don't have $20 or $30 for shoes.
Ombati added that shoes are necessary at schools for good hygiene and to protect the feet of children who walk far distances, according to the AP.
"The need is high, and the need is growing day by day," Ombati said, the AP reported. "Those who are from middle class families, they have (shoes), but those who are poor, maybe a friend gave them shoes, or maybe they are still looking, or maybe the shoes are torn. Many of them are trying hard, and even some share shoes."
Hudgins said he got the bare feet idea from Toms shoe company after it challenged customers to go a day without shoes, the AP reported.
"I thought one day without shoes was a pretty cool idea, but I wanted to go big or go home, so I decided to do a year," Hudgins said, according to the AP.
The first day in early December was the hardest, and he even abandoned his barefoot workout at the gym and left when he saw the manager approaching, the AP reported.
"It was kind of humiliating, I didn't expect that at all," Hudgins said, according to the AP.
When he got home, he told his fiancee he couldn't go through with it, but then he saw that the website he set up had its first $5 donation, the AP reported.
"That really inspired me and I said I'm going to keep doing it, I'm going to keep going," Hudgins said. "You'd be surprised how many places don't have those (no shoes) signs" Hudgins said.
