American Idol to fundraise for Rwanda’s needy

KIGALI - American Idol winner, Kris Allen, is planning a fundraising event next week in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, to support needy children in Rwanda. Allen will be sharing his experiences Wednesday during the “One Day Without Shoes Barefoot Bash for Rwanda” at Heifer International in Little Rock. Money raised at the event will benefit Heifer International and Bridge 2 Rwanda, a Little Rock-based charity. Kris Allen has just left Rwanda where he donated shoes from TOMS Shoes to vulnerable kids. The former student of University of Central Arkansas won the American Idol competition last May. The children who received the shoes are beneficiaries of Bridge 2 Rwanda, an organisation that opened Icyuzuzo Clinic in Kigali which offers HIV/AIDS clinical services. TOMS Shoes is an American footwear company based in Santa Monica, California, and also operates a non-profit subsidiary. For every pair sold, TOMS gives a new pair of shoes to a child in need. According to Bishop John Rucyahana, who is a board member of Bridge 2 Rwanda, Kris Allen’s visit to Rwanda was instrumental though he did not give details of his fundraising event. “There are several fundraisings organised by Bridge 2 Rwanda back in the USA for various causes… they always want to extend help to development in Rwanda,” Rucyahana said by phone yesterday. Rucyahana added that TOMS shoes were distributed to all children at Sonrise Primary School that he founded.“At our school, we gave shoes to every child, whether orphans or not, because we cannot afford discriminating them, they are all children,” Rucyahana said. Allan also said that Kris Allen was in the country to distribute 33000 pairs of shoes from TOMS Shoes Company to children of Rwanda. Ends