Buy Shoes, Save Lives

If you follow me on Twitter then you have probably noticed all the tweets about the Preemptive Love Coalition and BuyShoesSaveLives.com. I learned about this site through an article in Relevant Magazine a couple years ago now, but just recently was able to buy a pair of shoes. Klash, as they are called, are a simple, sturdy, handmade shoe that is providing a means of financial support for children in Iraq to receive life saving heart surgeries. I seriously wear these shoes almost every day. If I don’t wear them during the day, I generally change into them to go back out in the evening.

Jeremy Courtney is the founder of Preemptive Love. After coming to Iraq in 2007 and seeing the many children whose lives were threatened by heart defects, he decided to do something about it. Buy Shoes. Save Lives. was born. Their goal now is to eradicate the backlog of children needing heart surgeries and, through what they call Remedy Missions, produce a sustainable model that will out last PLC’s presence in Iraq. Remedy Missions are working to bring the surgeries into Iraq by training local doctors and nurses. You see, one of the reasons these kid’s aren’t getting surgery is because they have to travel to Turkey and Israel to find facilities and doctors who are capable of performing the surgeries they need. By training these people locally, the cost of surgery is reduced and the money from shoes and other support goes even further.

So how can you help? How can you get involved? It’s as easy as Buy Shoes. Save Lives. Seriously. Go buy shoes. A little boy or girl like Nivar will get their heart fixed and get a whole new life because you do. Whenever I take a step in my Klash, I think of Nivar’s heart that is beating because I purchased some shoes. We all need shoes. So save a kid’s life while you’re at it.

Follow Preemptive Love Coalition on twitter @PreemptiveLove, or visit them at PreemptiveLove.org and BuyShoesSaveLives.com.

a day in pictures from BBC.com had this photo with the following caption.  “Five-year-old Emmanuel Macasucao picks up broken plates a day after a tornado hit his family’s home in northern Philippines.”

how about the gun he’s holding in the other hand!