Samaritan's Feet Announces Purchase of Worldwide Headquarters Building With Plans to Launch Interactive Shoezeum Experience in Charlotte, NC
CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 19, 2021 (Newswire.com) - Humanitarian organization Samaritan's Feet announces the purchase of their new worldwide headquarters, located at 4808 Chesapeake Dr., Charlotte, NC, 28216. The 74,135 square feet of office, warehouse, and volunteer engagement space sits on 15.86 acres of land on the Westside Opportunity Zone of Charlotte. Samaritan's Feet closed on this property on June 30, 2021, for approximately $6.44 million.
Construction has begun to prepare the worldwide headquarters to contain the following in Phase I: main offices for staff based in the U.S., increased warehouse space to process and ship shoes globally, expanded volunteer engagement center, rentable meeting and event spaces, and the Samaritan's Feet interactive ShoeZeum presented by Sanford Health (an educational immersive experience available to the general public). Future plans for the headquarters include: The Samaritan Leadership Institute, an innovation and business incubator space, and additional co-working and rentable event areas.
"The monumental growth of Samaritan's Feet over the last several years is showcased by the purchase of our new headquarters facility. This is an important step in the next phase of the organization. The expansion allows us to work more efficiently towards our vision and amplify our commitment to creating a world with zero shoeless people, while further activating an ethos of corporate and community service in the city to help our constituents serve in a greater capacity. We are thrilled to bring this exciting new facility to the community of Charlotte, our home-base where the organization began 18 years ago," said Manny Ohonme, President, CEO, and Co-Founder, Samaritan's Feet.
The additional space in the new headquarters allows the organization to project a 60% increase in shoes distributed over the next five years, just in the United States alone, and ship over 1 million shoes worldwide annually. This increased impact also allows the organization to expand staff. To date, Samaritan's Feet has served over 8.3 million people across 108 countries, 450 U.S. cities, and 43 U.S. states.
The organization was able to purchase this building through a $5 million lead gift from Sanford Health based in Sioux Falls, SD, with matching gifts from other local and national partners through an ongoing capital campaign that outlines three main strategies to scale the global impact of the organization: increase operational capacity in the U.S., maximize efficiency in global delivery, and expand experiential education.
"It's hard to believe just 18 years ago we were operating out of our garage in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte. We're excited to see how this new facility leads to greater impact, because that represents more needs met worldwide," said Tracie Ohonme, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder, Samaritan's Feet.
The anticipated ribbon cutting for this new building is Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, with Phase 1 projects completed.
For more information: Trish Kriger, tkriger@samaritansfeet.org, 704-512-1320
Source: Samaritan's Feet International
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