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Barefoot Dignitaries Join Samaritan's Feet Open House!
Posted on March 04, 2010

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Barefoot Dignitaries, headlined by North Carolina Lt. Governor, Walter Dalton and Charlotte Mayor, Anthony Foxx, Welcome Samaritan’s Feet to New International Headquarters.
 
 
(Charlotte, NC) –March 3, 2010 – Samaritan’s Feet International has moved their headquarters to Charlotte, NC. Lt. Governor Dalton, Mayor Foxx and NASCAR’s Jimmy Spencer will headline the list of 200 hundred people, who will attend the grand opening in their bare feet, to represent the 300 million children who wake up every day without shoes. 
 
Lt. Governor Dalton will officially cut the shoe lace to welcome the staff and volunteers back to the great state of North Carolina. The celebration will take place on Friday, March 5th from 10:00am-12:00pm at Coffey Creek International Business Center, 1900 Associates Lane, Charlotte, NC.
 
As part of the program, volunteers will be lacing up shoes that are expected to be shipped to various locations around the world.
 
Leonard T. Wheeler, Former NFL Player and President of Wheeler Enterprises will preside as Master of Ceremony. Manny Ohonme, the founder of Samaritan’s Feet will also be in attendance autographing his new book, “Sole Purpose”
 
“I am so happy to be back in Charlotte,” said Manny Ohonme. “Charlotte is my home.   Over the last several months, our organization has reached new levels. This growth has allowed us to expand our operations throughout the world. This new location will serve as a great International headquarters for our staff and allow volunteers to come in and help us prepare shoes for distribution. I am humbled by our new digs, considering that Tracie and I started this from our garage.”
 
“More than 300 million children go without shoes every day,” said North Carolina Lt. Governor, Walter Dalton. “Children across North Carolina -- and around the globe -- will benefit from the important work being done by Samaritan’s Feet. If taking off my own shoes can help raise awareness of this undeniable need, I’m honored to do my part.”
 
 
INTERESTED MEDIA:   For further information, please contact Samaritan’s Feet Marketing Director, Todd Melloh at 317-417-3525 or tmelloh@samaritansfeet.org. 
 
  
About Samaritan's Feet
There are over 300 million children who go without shoes every day.  It's their only mode of transportation.  That's why Samaritan's Feet was started.
 
Samaritan's Feet is a humanitarian relief organization that puts shoes on the feet of children all around the world.  Our goal is to provide-10 million pairs of shoes for 10 million impoverished people in 10 years.  To date, nearly 2.5 million pairs of shoes for children around the world have been collected. 
 
It was started in 2003 by President and Founder, Manny Ohonme.  Manny received his first pair of shoes at the age of 9 from a missionary.  He started playing basketball and other sports with these new pair of shoes.  He earned a spot on a traveling basketball team and eventually his high school team.  Upon graduating high school, he was offered a scholarship to play basketball at University of North Dakota (Lake Region) where he received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees.

Manny spent ten years in the marketing and logistics business before he started Samaritan's Feet to help children and pay it forward to what he was given-a pair of shoes that gave him hope. 

Samaritan's Feet, based in Charlotte, NC, is a humanitarian non-profit relief organization dedicated to taking a life-changing message of hope and equipping the feet of impoverished children in the US and around the world with shoes.  Our focus is on children from USA, Africa, South America and the Caribbean.
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