Making the shoe fit
Bluffton 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, along with junior Ryan Aelker of New Bavaria, 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)
Stories Posted This Week
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
- Goshen College innovation leader to explore AI through a liberal arts lens
- Pirate volleyball loses to Shawnee
- Pirate boys golf sweeps NWC tri
- Figurines and household items recontextualized in "Amusings" exhibit
- Bruce Chesser: A Ceramic Retrospective, Aug. 24-Sept 26
- Bluffton Lions reach 80% of All Abilities Playground fundraising goal
Monday, August 24, 2026
Sunday, August 23, 2026
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Friday, August 21, 2026
- Marjorie Jean (Reams) Montgomery was a homemaker
- Meet the Bluffton Pirate football team, Fall 2026
- Ada Icon stories posted this week, August 17-21
- Aug. 22 Bluffton Cars & Coffee reminder
- Pirate girls soccer shuts out Anna in home opener
- Pirate volleyball win vs. Wildcats
- Pirate boys soccer rallies past Archbold
- Capture the essence of Bluffton in photos
- Pirate girls golf places 9th at SJCC Invite
- Call for actors for Dillinger reenactment on October 10