This News Release is a fictional piece created for my Public Relations Writing class at the University of Northern Iowa.
Media Contact: Daniel [email protected]
STORY OF A GIRL WITH NO SHOESCEDAR FALLS, Iowa (February 28, 2014)
- As Miriam Ubagda works to set up the Shoeless Awareness exhibit
on the University of Northern Iowa campus, she may look like a
typical college student, but having been raised in Uganda, Africa,
her story is far from typical. Growing up, Miriam did not own a
pair of shoes. At the age of 15, Miriam received her first pair;
they were red, with white paint splattered across them and a little
blue flag on the heel that read TOMS.Omicron Delta Kappa (OK), in
collaboration with TOMS Shoes, is hosting a Shoeless Awareness
exhibit on April 2, 2014, in the Maucker Union Coffeehouse on the
UNI campus. Ubagda, a junior marketing major, is a member of OK and
when she heard about the opportunity OK had to partner with TOMS
Shoes, she knew she had to get involved.Growing up in Uganda,
Africa was tough for Ubagda. She is the fourth of nine children in
her family, and with her father passing away when she was sex years
old, it was tough for her mother to support the entire family. The
other members in her village helped her mother take care of the
family after her fathers passing, but money was still tight. At the
end of the day, shoes were a necessity that Ubagdas family could
not afford.- MORE -Omicron Delta Kappa (OK) | 1227 W. 27th St. |
Cedar Falls, IA 50614 | 319.555.5555 | www.odk.org
(THE STORY OF A GIRL 2-2-2)Living without shoes, Ubagda grew
accustomed to cuts and sores on her feet. By the time she was 13,
large cracks had formed on the bottom of her feet and village
members feared that Ubagda would contract a parasitic infection
such as hookworm or threadworm. So when TOMS Shoes came to Ubagdas
village in 2008 to deliver shoes to the children of the village,
Ubagda and her family were ecstatic. For the first time in their
lives, Ubagda and her brothers and sister had a pair of shoes to
call their own.Today, Ubagda is a happy and healthy young adult,
and it is due in part to TOMS Shoes and their efforts to bring
shoes to those who dont have any. The Shoeless Awareness Exhibit
that OK is hosting does not even begin to compare to what Ubagda,
her siblings and thousands of other children around the world go
through growing up without shoes. However, Ubagda hopes that the
exhibit will shed some light into what it is like to live without
shoes and give students the opportunity to experience this first
hand.XXX2
