By JEFFREY JOSEPH
IU Diversity Sports Media Institute
As a usual summer pastime Indiana children shoot hoops in an Indiana community center. Across oceans and continents, barefoot African children play in the streets. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) head coach Ron Hunter is the common link that runs between these two groups.

Hunter not only dedicates his time to coaching college basketball, but also many other activities. These activities include holding youth basketball camps and his work with “Samaritan’s Feet.”

“Coach Hunter’s efforts have led to over 2 million children receiving a new pair of shoes.” Todd Melloh said, the director of marketing for Samaritan’s Feet International, in an email interview. ” These shoes represent more than just comfort, they represent hope for these children.”

Hunter’s path towards coaching at IUPUI and his commitment to philanthropy was forged during his days at Miami University of Ohio, where his team reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament. From there he accepted an offer to stay at his alma mater as an assistant coach, following his senior year.

“I am just an ordinary guy that loves coaching,” said Hunter, “but more importantly, I love children.”

Hunter’s commitment to mentoring is evident in his basketball camp at the Jewish Community Center of Indianapolis. Here, children work on developing their basketball skills with the help of IUPUI men’s basketball players and members of Hunter’s coaching staff. The camp, which includes boys and girls, runs for a week from 9 a.m. through 4p.m.

“I wanted to improve my basketball skills,” said 15-year-old camper Kiyan Allaei of Indianapolis, ” and I knew that this [camp] would be good because they have actual basketball players coaching.”

Coach Hunter leads this camp because of his commitment to giving back to his community and helping children develop. This theme is also carried through in what the coach describes as his “second job:” his involvement with the non-profit organization “Samaritan’s Feet.”

“That’s [coaching is] something I’ve always wanted to do,” Hunter said. ”I’ve coached ever since I was 12 years old, I’ve coached little league t-ball, and so coaching was something that was always in my blood and my dad coached, and so it was something I always knew I wanted to do.”

Samaritan’s Feet” is an organization that works to distribute shoes to the over 300 million shoeless children in Africa and around the world. According to samaritansfeet.org, Hunter became involved with the organization in November 2007, when it asked him to partner with them to collect 40, 000 pairs of shoes. At the end of the first venture, Hunter helped collect over 140,000 pairs of shoes and $30,000 for the organization and children.

“They [children] suffer from infections when their feet are cut and then the infection travels through their blood system and many of them lose their feet because of the infection,” Melloh said. “Over 1 million children die everyday because of foot borne diseases.”

Through his efforts, Ron Hunter is helping both groups of children reach their goals. In Indiana, Hunter is helping them to reach their basketball dreams and is a driving force behind “Samaritan’s Feet.” With the children in Africa and around the world, Hunter is helping them to achieve their potential and to lead better lives.

“He’s a great example for everybody and when I get out of high school, I am playing for IUPUI,” 14-year-old Dejohn Shelton from Gary, Ind. said.