Samaritan's Feet International

The goal of Samaritans Feet is to provide a new pair of shoes to 10 million children in need across the globe in the time-span of 10 years.

Before placing the new shoes on each child's foot, volunteers will serve each individual child by washing their feet and spending time getting to know them, encouraging them to do their best, and giving them a message of hope. Through this special act of service and by meeting a physical need, we believe that the shoes will become a tangible foundation of hope to a person in need just as it did for our founder, Manny Ohonme.

Our goal is that each child leaves with a new pair of shoes, hope for a better and brighter future, and the confidence and ability to do their best. We also hope, that through the humble act of washing feet, that communities will come together and work in one unified effort to better their areas.

Through a variety of strategic programs and initiatives, we work to serve as many children in need as possible. Through each of these programs, we partner with like-minded organizations, churches, and ministries that are located in the area we are serving. Because of this, we are able to have the community serve together and locate, to the best of our ability, the children that are in need the most. We want to have as much impact as possible in those areas.

Our programs include, but are no limited to:

- National Day of Service shoe distributions: Centered around Dr. Martin Luther King holiday weekend, Samaritan's Feet works with organizations to host shoe distributions across the U.S. and specifically in cities historically associated with the Civil Right Movement. These events provide an opportunity for diverse backgrounds to join together across this nation, symbolizing a unified effort of becoming the “Beloved Community” of which Dr. King dreamed.

- Back to School shoe distributions: These events occur from July - September when children are preparing for the new school year. Not only will children receive a new pair of shoes, they will also get a back pack with school supplies so that they are fully prepared and confident for the new school year. The goal of the program is to provide a framework for community collaboration in preparing students materially, physically and spiritually for the new school year.

- International Mission Trips: We host 15-25 international mission trips each year. During these 1-2 week-long trips, team members will travel to some of the most remote and poor-areas of the world and serve individuals with a new pair of shoes. In addition, we will partner with churches, ministries, and other non-profits to aid in other ways (tutoring, feeding programs, construction, job training, etc.), so that we can equip those communities for long-term success.

- Barefoot for Bare Feet: This initiative is vital to our ability to collect shoes and raise funds for mobilization and operation. Coaches representing high schools, city leagues, universities, and colleges have coached, managed, and made public appearances in their bare feet, all to raise awareness and funds for Samaritan's Feet. The passionate volunteers who make these events happen have been responsible for soliciting millions of pairs of shoes and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Through strategic partnerships across the world, our talented, strong staff team, and our network of donors and supports, Samaritan's Feet is built on a strong foundation of people and companies that believe strongly in the mission. With partnerships across the world, Samaritan's Feet is able to reach and invest in communities long-term.

We have had partnerships with U.S. government officials (attorney governors) and international leaders (including the President of Burundi) that work diligently with us to create special events that bring lasting changes to their communities. In some cases, our events can help with reconciliation efforts between specific areas. Samaritan's Feet has also partnered with numerous coaches and athletes (community leagues, school teams, college level, and professional) that use their platforms to raise awareness and funds for Samaritan's Feet. Often these people are leaders, influencers, and "celebrities" within their communities and can create a special movement of positive change in their areas. We've worked hard to build long-lasting relationships with numerous NCAA basketball coaches that have traveled internationally with us for shoe distributions leading us to be a charity at the NCAA's Final Four tournament several years.

Each staff member of Samaritan's Feet brings a strong business skill-set and vast knowledge of humanitarian relief. Our staff has ten years of experience planning and leading shoe distributions. We have numerous staff members that have over five years of experience organizing and hosting shoe distributions both internationally and here in the United States. Our Director of International Programs and Supply Chain brings a strong background in international logistics and coordinates the movement of shoes around the world all while building long-term relationships with international representatives that help that coordination. We also have a strong group of "super volunteers" that have participated and led numerous events and trips and bring a passion to all Samaritan's Feet events.

Over the last eleven years, we've created a strong network of donors and volunteers (both individuals and corporate-level). These invested people give thousands of hours every year at various Samaritan's Feet events and donate monetarily to make these events happen so that others can be impacted.

Since our founding in 2003, Samaritan's Feet has distributed over 7 million pairs of shoes across 108 different countries and 395 United States cities. We've worked with in-country organizations to deliver shoes in the following countries (please not this is not a complete list, but is an example of all the areas we've served): Honduras, Burundi, Haiti, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, South Africa, Morocco, Dominican Republic, and many more.