Paul has recently launched a website,
myscreamingfeet.com , to help him reach his goal, and pledged to wear high heels for the
event. How high, he says, is up to his supporters. "If they really want to see me
squirm they can dig deep and help out"
Paul intends to wear heels at least one inch high for every
$15,000.00 in total donations raised as a result of his efforts. As of yet it is unclear
if he intends to wear mens or womens footwear, however he admits that it might be
difficult finding mens shoes with 5 inch heels. Paul says "The type of shoes doesn't
concern me because, whatever they turn out to be, any pain I have to deal with will pale
in comparison to the struggles cancer patients endure day in and day out."
"I want to make sure people know how necessary it is to support
breast cancer research, and how valuable the Susan G. Komen foundation has been in this
effort. Given the current economic situation, it is likely support for medical research of
all types will decline and we cannot allow this to happen." Paul is hoping to endure
the whole event wearing heels, but expects he may be unable to walk the entire course
without resorting to a more suitable alternative. He then chuckled and said, "Who
knows, maybe the heels will grind into flats and become easier to wear. Well I can dream
can't I?"
Though the website myscreamingfeet.com is still under construction,
and Paul had not officially started raising funds at the time of this article, there are
still links to valuable resources on the site. "My best hope is to raise awareness
and foster support for all of the annual 3day for the cure events, and if I am able to
meet my goal so much the better. I'll be working on the site, adding resources and links
as time goes on, so I invite browsers to bookmark it and check it often."
When questioned on what gave him the idea, Paul spoke about another
valuable awareness event called 'Walk a mile in her shoes' where participants walk to
raise awareness of the domestic abuse and sexual violence problems of today. "I
figured, wouldn't it be something to do the same on the 3day". Paul also says he has
extended a challenge for others to walk with him and offers to provide free hosting, site
promotion assistance and a web link from myscreamingfeet.com , to other participants fund
raising sites. He has extended an invitation for people to join him on 'dry run walks',
walking laps around the Mall of America and invites volunteers to help with the 3day
event. "Even if they cannot walk, they can support the event in other ways by being
volunteer support staff ." says Paul.
Through my time with Paul I found him to be an amusing and
passionate individual. Some might call him crazy or weird, others may call him motivated,
creative, passionate and resourceful but Paul said it best when he remarked about what
people may think of his idea. Paul said, "Its going to take bold action, now more
than ever, to find a cure for this disease so I had to do something! As far as I'm
concerned, no excuses or explanations are necessary so I usually don't offer any. I know
people are going to say, or think, what they want, I'm just hoping they do it while
writing a check!"