Tuesday, January 29

Barefoot coach gets huge donation

A college basketball coach named Ron Hunter in Indianapolis wanted to raise 40,000 pairs of shoes for Samaritan's Feet - a charity based in Charlotte, N.C. that helps children in the U.S. and around the world.

To draw attention to this feat - he decided to go barefoot while coaching a game for his team at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Soo... it was a little unorthodox, it might have violated some health codes, and it most certainly stunk... but it worked.

The coach appeared on several ESPN shows on Thursday, and secured donations of thousands of shoes from Converse, Wal-Mart, Nine West and the Department of Homeland Security.The mission of the nonprofit, Christian-based Samaritan charity is to send 10 million shoes in 10 years to children living in poverty.
By the time the results, nearly $20,000 and 110,000 pairs of shoes were donated.
Hunter, 43, who almost never sits when coaching games, didn't have his feet stepped on, but they were still sore.

"My feet hurt so bad," he said after the game. "But imagine a child or a human going their whole lives without shoes."
As a small footnote to the story (get it?), IUPUI beat Oakland 82-69.

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