Liberty soccer player takes passion for Christian service to the feet of nearly 3,000 children

As a veteran on the Liberty University Men’s Soccer team, senior forward Luke Eberle knows the importance of having dependable shoes on his feet.

Since last August, Eberle has partnered with the nonprofit Samaritan’s Feet to provide new shoes to thousands of children locally, nationally, and internationally who may have never owned a pair.

The student-athlete from Annapolis, Md., grew up in a family that has a history of serving others internationally. His grandmother runs a nonprofit, Orphan Grain Train, that ships donated food, clothing, medical and other needed items to people in 71 countries. After he came to Liberty, Eberle sought out a new opportunity to be of service to those in need. He volunteered at Samaritan’s Feet headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., last summer and was inspired by the testimony of Manny Ohonme, CEO, who grew up in Nigeria and didn’t receive his first pair of shoes until after he won a local basketball competition at the age of 9. Ohonme was recruited to play college basketball in North Dakota, but when he returned to Nigeria, he saw many children who still did not have shoes. He created Samaritan’s Feet in 2003 and since then, the organization has provided nearly 10 million pairs of shoes to individuals in need across 88 countries around the world and in hundreds of cities across the U.S.

“When I heard the story and testimony of Manny, it really touched me and made me realize how grateful I should be for what Liberty gives (athletes) and me personally,” he said. “We get so many pairs of shoes throughout the year, and there are so many people in the world who don’t have a single pair. There are kids who can’t go to school because they don’t have shoes but need them for the school uniform, kids who can’t play sports, kids who run the risk of getting cuts on their bare feet that get infected and affect their health.”

Since starting as a partner last summer, Eberle has raised a little over $40,000 of his $100,000 goal and funded the distribution of around 3,100 pairs of shoes. In the spring, he connected with local churches in Ukraine to send 2,100 pairs, and he partnered with the Major League Soccer team Charlotte FC in December to distribute roughly 600 pairs of indoor soccer shoes to low-income children from a largely immigrant neighborhood in Charlotte. This past spring, Eberle and 50 other Liberty student-athletes, representing all of the university’s NCAA Division I programs, visited R.S. Payne Elementary School in downtown Lynchburg to give out shoes to 200 students.

Eberle is now looking to send shoes to children in Haiti, which is currently in a tumultuous period of governmental upheaval and near-anarchy. Not wanting to send shoes through the general ports, where he says they are likely to be stolen, Eberle is considering the more expensive option of airlifting the shoes directly to a local ministry.

Eberle said the shoe distributions and his status as a collegiate athlete are helpful in opening doors to sharing Christ with those in need. Even though he was not allowed to explicitly share the Gospel at previous events, he said it was still a beneficial opportunity to plants seeds for Christ.

“Sports is a great avenue to get your foot in the door with kids, and shoes are, too. But just giving shoes is not enough. Using my platform as an athlete is a way to meet a need while also sharing the Gospel with people. We can’t always directly speak about the Gospel, but we’re able to show the love of Christ through action.”

Learn more about Eberle’s work on the Samaritan’s Feet website.