It sounds way too neat – too detached – to say the shoes were merely “donated.” It’s as if kids lined up, were handed a shoebox with a Pistons sticker and walked out the door.

There was nothing neat about the scene Tuesday evening at the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit, where wet rubber gloves and towels were strewn under rows of chairs and volunteers couldn’t replace the cloudy water basins with fresh ones fast enough.

Barefoot children were everywhere, several of whom found their way to Pistons guard Ben Gordon. Not because they wanted an autograph or picture, but because Gordon – an accomplished NBA star and millionaire – was going to wash their feet before helping them put on their new socks and sneakers.

“I need some gloves and a towel,” said Gordon as a girl, who looked to be six or seven years old, quietly slipped into the chair across from him. After several minutes, Gordon grew pretty comfortable with the unusual exercise.

“It’s pretty simple,” he said. “Just soap the feet up, let them sit in the water a little while, and they’re good to go. It’s easy.”

Will Bynum also got in on the action. “I tried my best,” he said. “I’m not the best at feet washing, but I tried my best.”

Every player had a role at this rare full-team appearance. Tayshaun Prince and Chucky Atkins were runners, fetching the correct size shoes for each child while Rip Hamilton was the self-appointed shoe tester.

“Let’s walk it out,” he said to a 5-year-old boy named Walter. “Show me your jump shot.” Reluctant at first, the boy finally took a few hurried steps in his new shoes and then raced back, to Hamilton’s delight. “You’re my man,” he said, giving Walter a high-five.

This is how the Pistons chose to participate in the NBA Cares “Week of Service,” in which every NBA team is giving a day of service to their local community. Volunteers from The Palace and sponsors National City and Fathead made it possible for the Pistons and the nonprofit relief organization Samaritan’s Feet to positively impact nearly 2,000 children in three hours.

“This is unique,” Gordon said. “It's the first time I’ve ever done something like this but it’s for a good cause, so I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Trevon Young was one of the kids to have his feet washed by Gordon. “It was cool,” said the 13-year-old, and that was before he discovered the guy washing his feet and talking to him about basketball was the Pistons’ newest 20-point scorer.

“I thought it was wonderful,” said Tamika Pugh, Trevon’s mother. “They need positive role models in their life and it’s nice that [the Pistons] come to the community and interact with the children, geek him up a little bit, make him feel good. It makes him want to do more.”

The interaction between Gordon and Trevon is exactly what Manny Ohonme, the president and founder of Samaritan’s Feet, had hoped to see. Himself the recipient of his first pair of shoes at age nine from a missionary in Africa, Ohonme knows the encouragement these kids will take from their new shoes is the real gift.

“They’ll walk out in their shoes standing six feet tall,” Ohonme told the players before the event, ”because their role models touched them in a way they’ll never forget.”

Founded in 2003, Samaritan’s Feet made headlines in January 2008 when IUPUI coach Ron Hunter coached a game barefoot to bring attention to the charity and the organization’s goal of donating 10 million pairs of shoes to impoverished children worldwide in the next 10 years.

Since then, Samaritan’s Feet has hosted “Shoes of Hope” distribution events across the country, including one in Detroit last spring during the 2009 NCAA Men’s Final Four. Last January, the Memphis Grizzlies sent a group of players to a Shoes of Hope event where they washed the feet of 350 kids, previously the largest such event held in conjunction with an NBA team. The Pistons are proud to hold that distinction now.

“This is a monumental effort,” Ohonme said. “To actually see an entire team come support this and the staff and organization, this is the first time. This is a historical moment for us.”

The Pistons and Samaritan’s Feet had anticipated giving away 1,000 pairs of shoes and socks – until nearly twice that many families signed up. National City, the presenting sponsor of the Pistons, has agreed to help meet that demand by covering the cost of an additional 900 pairs of shoes to be distributed at a later Shoes of Hope event.

“There are a lot of kids out there that need help and I think if everybody would just step up a little bit, a lot of that need would go away. That’s what we’re trying to demonstrate here today,” said David Boyle, president and CEO of National City. He also rolled up his sleeves and washed children's feet, helping kids lace up their sneakers if there were no feet to wash.

“Just the act of washing feet is very humbling for both the giver and the receiver,” Boyle said, “and I think if we just humbled ourselves a little bit and stepped up, most of the need would go away.”