Green Soul Shoes

Join the Global Giving Circle and GreenSoul Shoes on Wednesday, December 16th at 7pm for their first annual holiday party and gift emporium, ChrismaHanuKwanzakah: A Holiday Anxiety-Relief Spectacular at Galapagos Arts Space in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Each ticket includes a glass of white/red wine or a non-alcoholic beverage.

Lima runs at a slower pace than most large metropolitan cities I have been to; its rhythm is more traditional, and its people reflect a steadier, calmer constitution. It feels more like a cluster of smaller towns. The south side of the city is washed by the cold waters of the southern Pacific ocean and seems pleasantly removed from the pace of time.

Cusco, the former capital city of the Inca Empire, has a similar feel though it definitely carters to tourism far better than Lima. There are now scores of beautiful Catholic Churches and modern conveniences, such as a McDonalds smack in the middle of the Plaza de Armas (the central town square).

GreenSoul Shoes was honored to be a top semi-finalist for the Forbes.com’s Boost Your Business business plan competition.  Winning this competition would allow us to expand our reach to local artisans, add new sandal models, and increase our shoes distribution. With your support and vote, we are confident we can reach the final round.

The voting process is easy:

1) Click the following link: http://su.pr/1bJP5c
2) select GreenSoul Shoes;
3) put in your email and verification code;
4) click the confirmation link in your email;
5) Send this email to your friends

Voting ends on September 30th, 2009.  Vote for us today!

So earlier this week, we donated the first batch of shoes to school children from the Philippines Christian Foundation in Navotas City, Philippines. The children were really excited and the school had them perform a thank you dance for us. Overwhelmingly, the people are excited to have us join them in their community and we are excited to work with them.

The location was set in a community of 500 to 1000  folks who lived in a local cemetery which was kind of macabre as there were open graves which were waiting to be reused.

There was also a section of housing built on stilts that extended into the water–the living conditions were still extremely rough and many sections of the bamboo floors were coming apart–making it important to look where you placed your foot.

By the time we left, we had over a hundred smiling faces and a community that had something new to celebrate. It has been a great week for our team over at GreenSoul Shoes and we are pretty excited about next steps!

More pictures here: http://su.pr/1DdOWq

So about half a month ago, we announced a contest to find the packaging design for our shoebox. Today, we are happy to announce our winner: Meg Sullivan. She was a class of 2008 graphic design student at Yale, where she was also on the crew team for four years. Today, she works as a graphic designer in Norwalk, CT.

She tells us she loves design, photography, rowing, adventures, and all things funny, odd, colorful, or serene.

Check out her other designs here.