For the entire month of September, St. Thomas sophomore Wyatt Amdahl is walking everywhere he can without shoes to raise money and awareness for those who do not have them.
He has gone to the O’Shaughnessy Library, class and tried to eat at The View, but was asked to put shoes on before going in. He is donating all the money he raises to a nonprofit called Soles4Souls that gives a pair of shoes to someone in need for every dollar raised.
“I always thought it was crazy that people go their whole lives doing daily tasks without shoes because they simply can’t afford them or don’t have access to them,” Amdahl said.
“I thought that I would try to both raise money and awareness for those individuals as well as see what it was like to do that in today’s society.”
Soles4Souls’ mission is to provide shoes for people all over the world who do not have the means or access to buy shoes.
According to its website, people may feel hopeless and discouraged when they don’t have access to shoes. Without shoes, many children are unable to go to school because they do not meet the dress code.
Amdahl’s support system helps him walk around campus.
“I think that it’s really cool that he’s doing this,” sophomore Sofia Boyle said. “If I’m really passionate about something, that I should just go and do it regardless of what other people think.”
Amdahl is aware of the looks he gets when he walks around campus, especially on the plaza. He tries to educate those who give him odd looks. The opportunity he gets to spread awareness and try to raise money for this cause is something he really enjoys.
“It definitely doesn’t allow me to do a lot of things that everyone else is used to,” Amdahl said. “It’s definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten to experience.”
“It definitely makes you think. I think that once people realize why he’s doing it, it makes them think that the fact that they’re seeing him without shoes and how that’s out of the ordinary, and he explains it and they say that, ‘Oh, this is something that actually matters,’” Boyle said.
Amdahl takes cash or Venmo donations, which he transfers into a GoFundMe to send to Soles4Souls.
Amdahl’s goal is to raise $1000 for Soles4Souls, and as of today has surpassed his goal.
Mae Macfarlane can be reached at mae.macfarlane@stthomas.edu.