Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Feel Good Friday: Gandys flip flops and the ‘Orphans for Orphans’ initiative

TJ Carter
By

feel good friday gandys flip flops and the orphans to initiative action travel
British brothers Rob and Paul Forkan — the founders of flip flop brand Gandys — had an unusual upbringing. They spent much of their adolescence traveling to exotic locales, soaking up different cultures, and working with their parents on a variety of humanitarian missions. Rob and Paul saw first-hand what life was like for poor children in developing nations, and became sympathetic to their plight.

The Forkan family did most of their work in South Asia. They were on the south coast of Sri Lanka in 2004, when the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean. Rob and Paul, then aged 15 and 17, managed to escape the carnage with their two younger siblings. Their parents weren’t so lucky.

Related Videos

Relying on the kindness of Sri Lankan strangers, the devastated Forkan siblings hitchhiked to the nearest airport and eventually made their way back to the UK. Over the next several years, Rob and Paul managed to get by thanks to help from family and friends — but they never forgot the poverty-stricken orphans in Sri Lanka who had no such support network.

Related
gandys bros

After years of working, saving money, and continuing their parents’ work abroad, Rob and Paul founded Gandys in 2011. Ever the resilient humanitarians, Rob and Paul set out to donate 10% of their profits to orphans. Gandys would come to embody the Forkan brothers’ love of travel and their desire to honor their parents’ legacy.

Today, The Gandys Foundation and the Orphans for Orphans initiative provide housing, education, and healthcare to disadvantaged orphans so they can do what Rob and Paul did: Overcome unimaginable tragedy and lead healthy, productive lives.

Related: Sunskis are the perfect surf shades for summer

This year, the Forkan brothers opened the first Gandys Kid Campus in the Sri Lankan village of Mau Gama, 10 years after the devastating tsunami. To this day, 10% of their profits go to help orphans — as does 100% of funds raised by the Gandys Foundation.

If you need to buy a new pair of flip flops this summer, you might as well make a positive difference in the process. We urge you to check out Gandys’ stylish and comfortable flip flops on their website. You might also visit this page to find out how to donate to the Gandys Foundation.

gandys flip flop burned II

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Feel Good Friday: Combat Flip Flops
feel good friday combat flip flops tuck

2.
Cashmagh
3.
Cashmagh
4.
Peacemaker
5.
Tuck Tuck

It's not hard to find a company that is giving back to the community through charity and social involvement. Searching out a company that is built on giving back from the very start though? That's a little more rare. Our friends at Combat Flip Flops have a unique business model that relies on partnering with charities in hot zones across the globe. They don't stop there though -- they take it a step further by helping set up manufacturing and logistics in target countries so that they can help rebuild war-torn economies. It sounds like a scary proposition, but when your founders are US Army Rangers, creating a safe haven in a war zone is all in a day's work.

Read more
The 11 best podcasts for long road trips in 2023
Make your drive better with these great podcasts for road trips

Spring is nearly here, which means it's time to start thinking about the great American road trip. Whether you're planning to venture from coast to coast or just a few towns over, you're going to want some quality content to listen to. Enter the podcast, the road trip's best friend.

This is not to say you shouldn't embrace the sounds of the road. Nor should you avoid your fellow passengers or overlook that special quiet you get when you're driving an empty road during the wee hours. But at some point along the way, you might want a little sonic pick me up. That's where the road trip podcast really comes in handy, an audio copilot that will keep your brain running while the odometer ticks away.

Read more
SlingTV just made it easier to keep up with every March Madness game in real-time, anywhere you go
Sling TV debuts two new features that will make March Madness even better
how to watch march madness anywhere sports scores

 

For many people, spring means a vacation from school or work. It could signal the flowers are ready to bloom and the barbecue is about to exit the garage and settle in on the back porch. And for basketball fans, spring is the best time of the year! March and April are two of the busiest months to watch college basketball as the NCAA Tournament kicks off. May and June mean the NBA Playoffs will begin to determine the champion of the league.

Read more