New shoes bring confidence, opportunity to Dallas kids

Thousands of Dallas children are walking with confidence thanks to a new pair of shoes.

A dozen North Texas churches hosted a show drive with a global organization, Samaritans Feet, at St. Philips School Saturday.

Manny Ohonme started Samaritan’s Feet because a pair of new shoes changed his life. A missionary gave Ohonme his first shoes at nine years old when he lived in Nigeria. Ohonme said he went on to play sports and received a scholarship to play basketball in America.  

“So don’t tell me you can’t change the world. One person can make a difference,” he said.

Samaritan’s Feet has given shoes to seven million children around the world.

“They’re so comfortable these are my favorite comfortable shoes now,” said nine-year-old Jahzara Walls after receiving her shoes. “They have pretty colors in them! I like the pink it’s very nice it kind of matches my clothes!”

Saturday volunteers washed the feet of 2,000 Dallas children before handing over a fresh pair of socks and shoes just for them.

“Some of these children haven’t had new shoes in six months, a year, two years. Some children are walking around with shoes three sizes too small,” explained project coordinator Damita Jo Crosby.

FOR THE 200 VOLUNTEERS at the event, FINDING THE RIGHT SIZE IS JUST ONE PART OF THE JOB.

“The volunteers are asking who they are, where they’re from, what do you enjoy, The next step is ‘what do you want to be? What’s your dream? What’s your goal?” Crosby explained.

“He was talking to me about what do I want to be when I grow up? I said I want to be a math teacher because I like math that's my favorite subject. I believe I could be a community helper too,” Walls said.

To learn more about how you can partner with Samaritan’s Feet, visit www.samaritansfeet.org