Samaritan's Feet night is Thursday, January 24th as IUPUI hosts Oakland in The Jungle.
How can I do my part?
- ALL: Donate Now and attend Thursday night's game, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
- IUPUI STUDENTS: The IUPUI Athletics Department urges you to come to the Jan. 24 game with Oakland in your bare feet. This will continue to raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet. Students are urged to come early to take part in a LIVE TV shot before the game at 6:20.
IUPUI Men’s Head Basketball Coach,
Ron Hunter will coach in his bare feet on January 24
th at home against Oakland.
This has never happened in college basketball history.
Dr. Martin Luther King Day is January 21, 2008. Therefore, in recognition of what Dr. King did for our country, Coach Hunter will honor his life by standing for the children around the world who don’t have a voice. There are hundreds of millions of children who don’t have shoes. They suffer from diseases, infection and many other ailments because they don’t have shoes to wear. Needless to say, they can’t play sports without shoes. Coach Hunter’s goal is to raise awareness for Samaritan’s Feet and 40,000 pairs of shoes in honor of the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s death.
Coach Hunter, and Emmanuel (Manny) Ohonme met several weeks ago and hit it off immediately. Manny lives in Charlotte, NC and is the founder of Samaritan’s Feet. Four years ago, he left a lucrative marketing and supply chain job to start Samaritan’s Feet (
www.samaritansfeet.org), a 501 c3 organization whose goal is to put 10 million pairs of shoes on children’s feet in 10 years around the world.
Manny is originally from Nigeria and grew up very poor. He received his first pair of shoes at the age of 9 from a missionary, who also taught him how to play basketball. These shoes allowed him to run and play without getting hurt and helped him get better at sports, specifically basketball.
He started playing travel basketball during his childhood and eventually played high school basketball in Nigeria. Manny was blessed with the ability to play basketball at a high level and eventually earned a scholarship to play at the University of North Dakota - Lake Region.
While in school, Manny earned his bachelors and masters degrees. He had a chance to play basketball overseas, but he turned it down to concentrate on his education. After graduation, he spent ten years in the logistics business prior to starting Samaritan’s Feet.
Samaritan’s Feet was formed in 2003 and four years later over 500,000 pairs of shoes have been donated
Why would Ron do this?
“We have been given an incredible opportunity and platform as coaches to use our status as role models for others and help children in need,” said Coach Hunter.
“My goal is to provide shoes for impoverished children throughout the world through Samaritan’s Feet. We picked this time of the year to honor Dr. King and others during Black History Month coming up in February.”
“I am so pleased with the decision that Coach Hunter has made,” said Manny Ohonme, founder of Samaritan’s Feet. “Ron and I are encouraging others to get involved as well, including CEO’s, other coaches, business executives, etc to help us raise 40,000 pairs of shoes for children throughout the world.”
For more information, please contact Samaritan’s Feet Marketing Director, Todd Melloh at 317-417-3525 or
tmelloh@samaritansfeet.org.