Steve Smith Samaritan’s Feet
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?”
One Carolina Panthers player decided
to answer the question. Steve Smith
was familiar with Samaritan’s
Feet (www.samaritansfeet.org), an
organization based in Charlotte, NC
that puts new shoes and socks on
the feet of impoverished people in
over 60 countries, because he had
volunteered at various fundraising
events. Samaritan’s Feet CEO and
Founder, Manny Ohonme would
occasionally ask Steve to get more
involved with Samaritan’s Feet.
However, Smith never went any
deeper with the organization.
18 / www.panthers.com
As time progressed, Steve started
asking himself some questions on
how he could do more with what had
been given to him and how he could
get his family involved in a mission
outside themselves.
On September 9, 2012 at Raymond
James Stadium, Smith lived out Dr.
King’s vision by doing something
that had never been done before in
professional sports history. He took off
his shoes and socks after the game,
left them at midfield in a symbolic
gesture, and walked barefoot off the
field, down the corridor into the locker
room.
Why you ask? Over 300 million
impoverished children suffer from a
lack of footwear and millions die each
year from foot-borne diseases.
Smith joined thousands of people,
including basketball coaches,
governors, teachers, students, CEO’s
and many others, who use their bare
feet to tell the stories of the voiceless.
There are millions of people who are
suffering from lack of food and basic
necessities. Two-thirds of the world’s
population lives on less than $2.50
per day. Therefore, shoes are a luxury
that they can’t afford. In the US,
many families are struggling to find
the money to buy clothes. Every day
parents are making difficult decisions
of whether to buy food or clothing for
their children. Samaritan’s Feet is
helping to make those choices easier
by providing new shoes and socks
throughout the world.
By utilizing the exciting, contagious
and powerful imagery of the NFL,
many of these families will experience
hope at a new level. This hope will be
shared through a new pair of shoes
and delivered by the NFL’s finest men
and women. Smith hopes that his barefoot
gesture will last longer than memories of
championships or difficult defeats. He wants to
create a buzz in the sport that will forever leave a
lasting footprint in children’s lives.
Steve serves as the Chairperson of the
Samaritan’s Feet NFL “Barefoot Ambassadors”
program. He has created a football-giving
platform that will outlive his playing career and
gives other NFL players the same opportunity.
He has set several goals related to the program,
including raising 500,000 pairs of shoes and
providing opportunities for others, including NFL
players, to experience servant leadership through
serving impoverished children at Samaritan’s
Feet shoe distributions, both domestically and
internationally. Steve believes that this will
create long term service-minded individuals,
which will ultimately make our communities
better places to live.
Smith and his family have already
served impoverished families in
Tampa Bay, Lima, Peru, Charlotte,
New Orleans, Memphis and Atlanta.
In fact, he and his family served
families in all the eight Panthers
away game cities. Samaritan’s Feet
identifies families in need through
their relationships with church groups,
social service organizations, schools
and other city-run agencies in each away game
city and empowers volunteers to serve others.
Samaritan’s Feet doesn’t just hand out shoes.
They demonstrate servant leadership that Dr.
King spoke of through a simple act of servant
leadership - washing their feet, providing them
with a new pair of shoes, and sharing with them
a message of hope. Smith hopes these efforts
deliver a powerful message of leadership and
servanthood to football fans, teams and players
across the country. The Smith family is
committed to making a difference in
the lives of people around the world, not
just with the impoverished, but also the
lives and hearts of the volunteers and
donors - those that actually make these
events possible. Being able to impact a
child in such a profound way will leave
a lasting footprint on the lives of the
server and the receiver that will last a
lifetime.
The ripple effect of Smith saying yes
continues today as more NFL players
have said yes to providing a voice for the
voiceless…wide receiver Victor Cruz of
the Giants, quarterback Russell Wilson
and wide receiver Doug Baldwin of the
Seahawks, and wide receiver Harry Douglas of
the Atlanta Falcons have followed Smith’s lead
by leaving their shoes on the field after the
game. The players sign their shoes and they are
auctioned off on the Samaritan’s Feet website to
the highest bidder. The money raised is used to
distribute shoes to children in need.
As a result of one man saying “yes...I have the
courage to make a difference...” people’s lives
have been changed.
CAROLINA PANTHERS V.14.4 / 21