We have seen and written about numerous examples of businesses that leverage their influence on the public for the benefit of a social cause. One business which has always stood out from the crowd is The Body Shop. Founded in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick in England, The Body Shop has always stood for ethical business and been a model organization for giving back and supporting causes which help make the world a better place.

Common Soles is fully in support of The Body Shop's latest initiaitve in aiding ECPAT USA and the Somaly Mam Foundation in an effort to stop the sex trafficking of children and young people.

We are over 50% of the way to completing this initiative which rebuilds the small library and laboratory at the all-girls school in Purchuru, India. This rural school provides education to girls in the region who otherwise would not be able to go to school. Many graduates end up being the first in their family to go to university and/or get jobs in the city.

We are so close to funding this initiative via the sale of the Common Soles Natya and Aiman flip-flops. Help us hit that goal by picking up a pair for yourself or as a gift today! Think Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Graduation present, Wedding party gifts, whatever!

2010 is already shaping up to be a good year for us! Earlier this month we realized the successful completion of our first initiative. The goal was to generate funding to purchase new school books and supplies for the children of the workers in the factory that make Common Soles flip-flops in Vijayawada, India. Check out the details and photos from this event on our initiatives page.

Rao is back in India working on product and initiatives. We hope to have our first initiative fully funded in the next few weeks while he’s over there so we can wrap it up and get the kids new books!  He’s busy working with the folks over there in assembling that whole process and I hope having some fun while doing so!

Dave and I went to visit the all girls school in Purchuru, to learn first hand how the school operates and what initiatives will make the most sense for the school.  It was quite an amazing experience. All the children seem so bright and happy to receive an education, and the teachers are so very proud of the school and their students.  The girls come from poor families who normally cannot afford to pay for their children education.

The school has been running  on donations and noble intentions for the last 24 years. The school is is practically free for the students, they only collect a paltry 25 cents for the whole year from each student.  Few donors over the years have been sponsoring teachers fees, children's uniforms, children's books and other necessities for the school. One such distinguished gentleman is Mr.Venkateswarlu (Lu) in this photo with Dave and I.

Dave is on his way back to US. No one would believe that it was his first time to India. He braved the heat, spices, and all the complexities of travel in India with great ease and as any local would do.  Kids just loved him where ever we went and some even thought he was Ricky Ponting the pro cricketer from Australia (although Dave isn't so sure about that after looking him up...). Here is a picture of Dave with the kids from Takkar baba colony in Kurla Mumbai. 

We took autos and rickshaws where ever we could as that is the best mode of transport to the places that we wanted to go. Here are other pictures of him (and I) during his trip from checking out materials in the streets of Delhi to visiting the all girls school at Purchuru to understand the needs of the children there.  We did lots of work while he was here and in the process had tons of fun too. If you talk to him you should definitely ask him about the spice challenge he volunteered for.

Dave and I have been contemplating about what kind of initiatives we should be selecting that would be most impactful, can be administered directly by us and can show concrete results to customers and others donating money to our initiatives. In this process I met people from www.aasai.org.