Thursday March 16th, I headed over to my favorite mommy spot in West Hollywood, Au Fudge for the Toms Panda shoe benefitting WildAid. Au Fudge is one of the few spots in Los Angeles that has delicious comfort food designed for a foodie and an awesome “creative space” for kids to play while mommies dine. I don’t think there is a better concept out there.
Every year Toms Shoes chooses one animal initiative to create a shoe that part of the proceeds goes toward that cause while still remaining true to their one for one shoe mission. This animal initiative was founded by Heather Mycoskie, the owner of Toms Shoes wife who has a passion for global animal protection.
With only 2,000 wild pandas left around the world, it is absolutely imperative to raise awareness about it. This collaboration is designed to provide funds to help protect/safeguard the giant panda in Sichuan, China by providing educational opportunities to impoverished students living adjacent to critical panda habitats as well as helping to preserve the biodiversity of their habitats in this area.
Per the WildAid website:
The giant panda is an umbrella species; protecting them and their habitats indirectly benefits numerous other rare plants and animals. Giant panda habitats in China support 70% of endemic forest bird and mammal species, 31% of endemic forest amphibians, more than 10,000 types of seed plants (about 33% of China’s seed plants) and more than 1,000 different vertebrates (about 17% of China’s vertebrates). Among these, more than 290 species are considered “threatened” by the IUCN Red List.
With generous support from TOMS, WildAid and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding will launch the “Giant Panda and Biodiversity” public awareness campaign. The campaign’s goal is to increase awareness of the importance of giant panda protection, to improve society’s understanding of the relationship between habitat and biodiversity preservation, and to demonstrate China’s success in the giant panda breeding and conservation efforts.