February 24, 2009

Contact:   Stacey Schmeidel

Davidson, NC—When Davidson College senior Andrew Lovedale returns home to Benin City, Nigeria, after graduation this May, the political science major and star basketball forward will be taking 10,500 pairs of shoes with him.
                Intended for distribution to children and young adults, the shoes were collected in Kicks from ’Cats—the Andrew Lovedale Shoe Drive at Saturday’s BracketBusters basketball game. Fans attending the game also contributed rally towels, jerseys, basketballs and other gear, as well as thousands of dollars to help cover the cost of shipping the shoes.
                Samaritan’s Feet, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing lives through Shoes of Hope distributions around the world, donated 10,000 pairs of shoes to Kicks from ’Cats, and will also coordinate the complicated logistics of shipping and distribution in Nigeria.
                Davidson students, faculty, staff and other volunteers will sort the shoes and prepare them for shipping this Wednesday, Feb. 25, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in Duke Family Performance Hall on the Davidson campus. Volunteers interested in helping with the shoe sort may contact Morgan Clark (704/894-2374).
             Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.
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Posted By: Bill Giduz