Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity, has announced a complete line-up of A-list celebrities who decided to take off their shoes for a good cause.
What began as a staff shoe drive internally at NBCUniversal 30 Rock studios for the charity’s Japan relief efforts quickly caught on to stars such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Sir Elton John, sisters Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, John Krasinski, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mariska Hargitay, Yoko Ono, the TODAY show cast, and many more. Jennifer Wilson, an NBCUniversal employee who helped initiate the celebrity shoe auction, said it was the kindness of organizations like Soles4Souls during Hurricane Katrina that drew her to help.
“I’m a Louisiana girl with family in New Orleans, so I saw first-hand the destruction, pain, and uncertainty that comes with a natural disaster,” Wilson said. “I started this to help those that helped us.”
The celebrity shoe auction that will benefit Soles4Souls will include game shoes from Lamar Odom, The SNL Cast, Spike Lee, and signed game cleats from Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Joe Girardi, and Robinson Cano, and will launch in coordination with Soles4Souls’ 4th annual National Barefoot Week on the charity auction site CharityBuzz.com, beginning May 31st and extending until June 22nd.
“We are so excited about our 4th year of hosting Barefoot Week and are honored by our friends at NBCUniversal and Jennifer Wilson who have really put their ‘sole’ into this auction and this year’s festivities,” said Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. “We encourage the country to follow the lead of these celebrities and take their shoes off for the week to help the world see that there is an incredible global need for footwear.”
Other celebrities that kicked off their soles for the auction include Brooke Burke, Paris Hilton, Matthew Morrison, Chelsea Handler, Tom Brokaw, Joan and Melissa Rivers, Carmelo Anthony, Amaré Stoudemire, Nick Harper, Maria Menounos, Billy Bush, Kenny Rogers, Bill Engvall, Maria Sharapova, Ricky Gervais, Karl Pilkington, Stephen Merchant, Jason Bateman, Guiliana Rancic, Ryan Seacrest, Chace Crawford, Brian Williams, the cast of Law and Order, Jimmy Fallon, Quest Love of The Roots, Lance Bass, NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Mark Martin, NHL players Alex Ovechkin, Zach Parise, Zdeno Chara, Ryan Getzlaf, and Chris Pronger, the Eureka cast, Jillian Michaels, Camille Grammar, Margaret Cho, Alison Sweeney, Curt Schilling, Phil Mickelson, Wayne Gretzky, Jennie Finch, Stacey Dash, and Jonah Hill.
For more information on the auction and how to bid, or to find out how you can get involved in Soles4Souls 2011 National Barefoot Week, visit www.giveshoes.org.
