Bluffton (Ohio) University football player Brad Swavel talks with a student at Padua Academy in Indianapolis during a shoe distribution at the school Jan. 27.
Roughly 170 students in kindergarten through fifth grade received new shoes—as well as socks and a drawstring backpack—through an effort coordinated by Samaritan’s Feet International and the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Swavel, a Bluffton senior from Marion, Ohio, along with junior Ryan Aelker of New Bavaria, Ohio, were among first-team all-HCAC players from the 2014 season who traveled to Indianapolis with their coaches for the second-annual event.
The student-athletes washed the children’s feet and gave them new socks before fitting them with the new shoes.
Each HCAC school designated one conference contest during the season as a “Barefoot Game” to raise awareness and funds. The conference ultimately raised roughly $7,000 for Samaritan’s Feet, a Charlotte, N.C.-based nonprofit.
Photo courtesy of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
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