Hope Delivered To Indianapolis Families
Indianapolis, IN (January 13, 2008)-1,000 people in Indianapolis will be given new shoes and socks as part of the National Day of Service on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 19th.
Indy residents will be touched with a message of hope and a new pair of shoes and socks, through Samaritan’s Feet. Samaritan's Feet (www.samaritansfeet.org) is a humanitarian relief organization that puts shoes on kid's feet all around the world. They have partnered with 200 volunteers from IUPUI, Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis-Wheeler Dowe Unit, Faith Hope and Love, area churches and Shepherd Community Center to give these families a pair of new shoes and socks.
The shoe distribution is a culmination of an entire weekend of humanitarian activities centered around the, “Barefoot For A Cause Campaign”, which is headlined by IUPUI Head Basketball Coach, Ron Hunter’s nationwide effort of coaching a game in his bare feet for Samaritan’s Feet. Coach Hunter has encouraged all basketball coaches to coach a game in their bare feet during the weekend of January 16-18th. Over 500 coaches from college, high school, youth and others have joined Coach Hunter and his efforts of raising 1 million pairs of shoes.
"I am so excited to be a part of this shoe distribution in my hometown,” said Hunter, who took his team to Lima , Peru last August. “Last year’s excitement caught me and Samaritan’s Feet off-guard a little. This year we made it a point to give back to our community within days of the barefoot game. We will deliver on that commitment by demonstrating servant leadership that my hero, Dr. King clearly defined and emulated.”
“We are extremely pleased that Coach Hunter has again embraced our request to coach a game in his bare feet and to use his platform to provide a voice for those children world-wide who will never own a pair of shoes,” noted Samaritan’s Feet Founder, Manny Ohonme. “His and the other coaches involvement will move this event to a new level and our ongoing global mission to reach the world’s neediest children with the gift of shoes.”
IUPUI players and coaches, IMPD uniformed officers will be in attendance serving their community, as well as Ike Randolph, Executive Director, Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives.
Speaking about the event, Ohonme said, "We are so excited to be able to be a blessing to children in need in Indianapolis . “We will use this event to build our local volunteer base and support as we establish a regional office in Indianapolis to mobilize resources for our Shoes of Hope Celebrations domestically and around the world."
The 1,000 shoe recipients have already been pre-selected by Shepherd Community Center and Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis and Faith Hope and Love.
The following locations represent the shoe distributions on Mon, January 19th (MLK Day):
Shepherd Community Center, 4107 East Washington Street
- 8:00am-10:00am-Set up...this is where we will organize the shoes and supplies.
- 10:00am-1:00pm-Shoe Distribution
- 500 pairs of shoes, washing the feet, playing games with them, etc).
Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis-Wheeler Dowe Unit, 2310 East 30th Street (30th and Keystone)
- 9:00am-11:00am-Set up…this is where we will organize the shoes and supplies.
- 11:00am-1:00pm-Training of volunteers.
o 1:00pm-4:00pm-Shoe Distribution
- 500 pairs of shoes, washing the feet, playing games with them, etc.
- Coach Hunter and his players will be at this location, washing feet
About Shepherd Community Center (www.shepherdcommunity.org)
Shepherd Community Center is a faith-based, non-profit organization founded in 1984 with a simple but staggering goal: to break the cycle of poverty on the near east side of Indianapolis . Located centrally within the community it serves, Shepherd offers programs for children, teens, adults, and families, helping to meet their physical, emotional, academic, and spiritual needs.
About Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis
Known as “The Positive Place for Kids,” Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis provides guidance-oriented youth development programs on a daily basis for children 5-18 years old, conducted by a professional staff. BGCI serves nearly 12,000 young people in nine Indianapolis locations, primarily from disadvantaged circumstance, www.bgcindy.org
About Faith Hope and Love
The mission of Faith, Hope & Love is to foster and share faith, hope and love through action by encouraging volunteerism and facilitating service projects in local communities and in areas in need of disaster relief. Through gathering community members together in loving service, FHL seeks to break down manmade walls between churches, races, social status, government and education to unite people to help our neighbors in need and to inspire the next generation to embrace and carry on the tradition. For more information, please visit www.fhlinternational.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 (www.samaritansfeet.org) was started. Samaritan's Feet is a humanitarian relief organization based in Charlotte , NC 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 one 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.
For more information, please contact Todd Melloh at 317-417-3525.
Not affiliated with Samaritan's Purse.