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My buddy Jon mentioned me over at Stuff Christians Like today, so if you’re here for the first time because of his linkage, thanks for visiting. Here at Ramblings and Such I try to entertain, inform, inspire, and occasionally poke fun at the Amish community I live near (Yes, I really do live in Intercourse, PA), so if you’re into that sort of thing, subscribe to the feed and give it a taste test. Thanks for coming, and be sure to check out the video below…

Okay, so here’s the math behind the following video

my bad parenting + my crazy kids + a great cause = Soles in the Snow

check it out to see what I mean:

Soles in the Snow from Bryan Allain on Vimeo.

I wasn’t kidding about the donation. I made it on Monday. $20 isn’t much, but that’s 8 more pairs of shoes Wayne Elsey can give out through his organization. (oh, and I got a free keychain for my donation too…so that was nice of them)

Got 3 minutes and $5 you can spare?
Click here to go right to the donation page…it’s so fast, you’ll be done before you can change your mind.

(and if you want to share this video on your blog to get your readers involved, you can go here for the embed code.)

Tags: Parenting, Soles4Souls

I just bought 2 pairs of shoes for someone who needs them. It cost me $5. And about 3 minutes.

You can too. Actually, you should too. It’s all a part of a fund raising campaign started by blogger Anne Jackson and Soles4Souls founder Wayne Elsey. They are trying to get people to buy 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days. Impossible? Maybe. Maybe not.

I could give you some GOOD reasons to do this, but just to mix things up here are five BAD reasons:

1. Because it makes you feel better about yourself to give.
2. Because you can tell everyone you donated to a charity and make them think better of you.
3. Because it is your good deed of the day.
4. Because it’s only $5 and you’re so stinking rich you would wipe your butt with 5-dollar bills if it didn’t hurt so much.
5. Because I told you to, and you do everything I tell you to do.

Wow, those are some awful reasons. The best reason to do this, of course, is because there are kids and moms and dads out there who need shoes. Here’s what Anne said on her blog:

over 300 million people around the world don’t have shoes and are forced to walk around unsafe and in potentially life-threatening conditions. not only is it unsafe physically, but having to look down all the time causes these people to also live without dignity and confidence.

So yeah, if you have 3 minutes and 5 bucks, go buy 2 pairs of shoes for $5 for someone who needs them.

And the next time you try to decide which of the 10 pairs of shoes/sneakers/boots you’re going to wear, be thankful for what you have.

(and if you do donate, let me know in the comments so I can give you a thumbs up and a “way to go”!)

Tags: 50000 shoes, Anne Jackson, Soles4Souls