A shoeless child playing ball in Africa, a common sight in many countries in the continent. Photo courtesy Hoops 4 Hope (www.hoopsafrica.org).

Emmanuel (Manny) Ohonme is the founder of Samaritan’s Feet (www.samaritansfeet.org). Originally from Nigeria, he grew up very poor. He received his first pair of shoes at age 9, and they helped him get better at sports, specifically basketball. He eventually played high school ball, and earned a scholarship at the University of North Dakota - Lake Region. After graduation, he worked a lucrative job. In 2003, he left it to start Samaritan’s Feet, and in four years over 500,000 pairs of shoes have been donated!

Ron Hunter, Head Basketball Coach at IUPUI (Indiana University, Purdue University at Indianapolis), has decided to coach in his bare feet for their January 24th game against Oakland in honor of the organization and Martin Luther King’s Holiday. He recently stated, “There are hundreds of millions of children who don’t have shoes . . . My desire is to raise awareness for Samaritan’s Feet and raise 10,000 pairs.”

Hunter has taken it even further. He’s asking his peers in the profession to coach bare footed around MLK Day (1/21), too. If you are interested in supporting this cause, contact him at rehunter@iupui.edu.

To arrange shoe donations, reach out to Samaritan’s Feet Marketing Director, Todd Melloh at 317-417-3525 or tmelloh@samaritansfeet.org.

Bounce supports this effort. We hope you do, too.