Thanking Deckers for their support
We had a great time visiting the headquarters of Deckers. Deckers Outdoor Corporation, whose corporate office is located in Goleta, remains close to its origin. It is there, as a UCSB student, that Doug Otto, Chairman, began producing sandals in 1973. Since then, Deckers has grown into an international company with three footwear brands – Teva, Simple and UGG® Australia. Deckers has donated hundreds of thousands of shoes to Soles4Souls. A few months ago, we actually got to give away some of their cute girl’s Teva sandals on an isolated Indian reservation…in the middle of a record-breaking snowstorm!
The day we visited, all the employees were involved in a teambuilding activity. Everyone divided up into 20 teams. Each team had a series of pictures and challenged to use the pictures to tell a story that centered around Deckers. Allan and I judged each team’s presentation, with the Grand Prize winning team getting $250 to donate to charity plus going out to lunch together. To add to the authenticity of our very important roles, we sat at a table in front of the stage with two cans of Coke, just like the judges on American Idol. We also had awards for each team, complete with a certificate and Soles4Souls keychain. Teams won awards such as “Best Use of Descriptive Phrases That Would Make An English Teacher Proud” or, “Best Dramatic Telling of a Story”. My personal favorite award was “Best Suck-Up To The Judges”.
Thanks Deckers, for a fun afternoon as well as your continued donation of so many shoes to people in need!
