DETROIT â€â€Ã‚ University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari will bring hope and new shoes to needy children in Detroit.
Through a partnership with Samaritan’s Feet and the Boll Family YMCA, Calipari along with his staff and basketball team will exemplify servant leadership by washing the feet of students from the newly established Detroit Leadership Academy. After washing their feet and providing the children with new shoes, Calipari and the UK squad will engage the students in basketball drills.
The event will be on Saturday11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Boll Family YMCA, 1401 Broadway Street, Detroit.
After participating in a Samaritan’s Feet shoe distribution for orphans in Haiti this past June, Calipari was deeply impacted by the simple yet profoundly humbling act of washing the feet of children and providing them with new shoes.
“It’s really neat the way Samaritan’s Feet does it,” said Calipari. “You can’t imagine the smiles and appreciation. It’s an amazing feeling to give those kids even a few minutes of that excitement that comes with getting new shoes.â€Â
Managed by the YMCA of metropolitan Detroit, The Detroit Leadership Academy anticipates hosting 300 students this year in grades K through 5. Volunteers from the University of Kentucky athletic team, the Boll Family YMCA, and the Detroit community will celebrate the grand opening of the Detroit Leadership Academy by sharing hope and new shoes with 228 students grades K through 5.
Since March 2009, Samaritan’s Feet has impacted over 6,000 children in need throughout Detroit. Nearly one thousand volunteers from area churches, community groups, and corporations including the Detroit Pistons Basketball Team, have given back to the people of Detroit through Samaritan’s Feet shoe distributions.
“Serving the people of Detroit over the last two years has been an incredible blessing to Samaritan’s Feet,†said Manny Ohonme, Founder of Samaritan’s Feet. “We have formed strong bonds with the community and consider our Detroit-area volunteers as family.â€Â
The Greenfield Inn located in Allen Park, Michigan has provided accommodations for Samaritan’s Feet staff. All shoe recipients have been pre-registered and the event is not open to the public.
10 Responses to Calipari, Cats will wash feet of Detroit children
Leave a Reply
Blue Zoom Radio Show
Polls
Loading ...Choose Your Favorite!
The New York Times or the Chicago Sun Times, which one of these high integrity news papers do you think will break this story? Oh, wait a minute this would be a story about helping kids,and probably way to many resourses to prove it is true.
Way to go Coach Cal, Staff, and Team keep up the good work!!!
no doubt jan. i bet pat forde flies to Detroit to personally cover this.
this is incredible. as a former youth pastor i’ve been a part of a foot clensing service and its pretty moving. it’s cool that Cal would set this up for the kids to do. talk about team building. and think how sweet it will be for the kids of Detroit. they will be taken care of by a top 5 CBB program with 5 or 6 future NBA players on that team. that may be the kind ofthing that changes a young kids life.
and if we snag a couple recruits away from Izzo in the process, to God be the glory.
Jan, love your response…we could add TMZ to your list.
Coach Cal continues to teach not only basketball but about appreciating how we have been blessed and giving back, makes me proud. GO BIG BLUE!
Larry thank you for keeping us informed on the positive parts of the UK program. I could care less, about whether this helps recruiting. It will help poor children, while allowing our team to realize the suffering of others. It should also help them to understand, how education will play an important role in their future. Cal and the players are in a position to help families who are down. I commend him and hope the players embrace their chance to help these children.
Keep up the great work Larry. You are the best!!!
Fair is fair in my book. Whether you like or dislike Cal, you have to appreciate the community-service type activities he makes sure his players are involved in
I totally agree with UKFAN. I also like the fact that the event is not open to the public. That tells me that Cal is more interested in the lessons being taught than any publicity it might generate.
Jan, I really hope the NYT, CST or TMZ don’t report on this for several reasons. First, it would give them credibility they don’t desrve. Second, they would report that it was closed to the public because Cal was illegally providing K-5th grade “recruits” with bribes to come to UK in 13 years. (I might believe the last one if Billy Clod was still the coach!)
Keeping it simple this is just another reason to be a proud member of the BBN.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE AND GIVE SOMETHING BACK. REMEBER YOUR TIME IS WORTH MORE THAN YOUR MONEY! ! !
Ha. good call Classy.
Classy, that is one thing I don’t think we will have to worry about, they aren’t about to print anything good about Cal or UK.
What is it that all great men do, what is it that all men in power should do, what is it that we all should do? Give back? Cal gives back continuously. The rags aren’t going to report these kind of stories, they can’t find any dirt with them other then the dirt they will be washing from the feet of these children. If one immoral coach was doing it, they would make it front page news about how wonderful he is and how he thinks of other people before he thinks of himself. Hairpiece turde would have a front page story dedicated to it. What amazes me about Coach Cal is how he does reach out to the less fortunate, how he does try to make their lives a little better even if for a moment, how he donates his time and his money for what he believes. He just doesn’t show up, he is there and he is swinging the hammer for how ever long the hammer needs to be swung. He doesn’t look for photo ops, he doesn’t just step unto the podium to hand over the check, Coach Cal is there and working and supporting for what he believes. He is getting the BBN behind him and getting them to support them also. He is showing the young men he mentors and coaches that it is not all about the jingle in the pocket. I hope the young men who left last year remember all the lessons that Coach Cal taught them on and off the court. I remember some years ago when Jamal Mashburn left early for the NBA one of the first things he did was to set up a scholarship fund at UK, that fun is still financing educations for young people at UK. What a gift and example of giving back. GO CATS!