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Shoes and Hope Can Be A Powerful Thing

Ron Hunter always knew he wanted to be involved with something bigger than basketball. That he could make a difference in the world and leave a lasting impression off the court the way he’s spent his career doing so on it. Then Emanuel “Manny” Ohonme walked into his life.

It was 2007 and Hunter was coaching at IUPUI when Ohonme came into his office and talked to him about Samaritan’s Feet, his Charlotte, N.C.-based charitable organization with a mission to accumulate and distribute millions of pairs of shoes to poor children around the world.

When Ohonme was a child living in Lagos, Nigeria, a missionary group from Wisconsin came and offered him a chance to enter a contest to win a pair of shoes, which he won.