ATLANTA - Celebrate Positive announced today that IUPUI Basketball Coach Ron Hunter has been nominated for the inaugural  2010 United Nations NGO Positive Peace Awards in the Coach category. This award, viewed as a 21st century peace prize, honors and recognizes individuals, businesses, athletes, sports teams, entertainers and schools around the world for their positive contributions.

The 2010 Positive Peace Award nominees are judged by the United Nations NGO Voting Academy comprised of highly respected United Nations NGOs, such as Rotary International, Pathways to Peace, and Sister Cities International. The Voting Academy will use an established criteria of a coach’s community involvement and impact on their community to determine this year’s winner.

“We at IUPUI are proud of Coach Ron Hunter’s commitment to civic engagement,” IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz said. “Ron embraced the Samaritan’s Feet initiative and has touched thousands of lives. At IUPUI, we pride ourselves on making an impact. Coach Hunter has taken that to an entirely new level through his partnership with Samaritan’s Feet.”

“Celebrate Positive congratulates Ron Hunter for exemplifying what giving back to the community means” said Scott Pederson, President and CEO, Celebrate Positive. “Coach Hunter’s positive impact goes beyond the Indianapolis community. His concern for the international community is well documented."  

Hunter was nominated by Samaritan's Feet for being a pioneer in the Barefoot for Bare Feet movement. In 2009, Hunter agreed to coach a game barefoot to help raise awareness for the need for shoes in underserved nations. That event sparked a movement in which 2 million pairs of shoes have been collected for third world countries. Hunter, along with some of his staff and players, have personally delivered these shoes to thousands of children in Peru and Africa.

“Coach Hunter’s decision to use his platform as a coach to raise shoes for Samaritan's Feet has had a ripple effect throughout the country”, said Todd Melloh, Director of Marketing for Samaritan's Feet. “Inspired by Coach Hunter, thousands of youth league, middle school, high school and college coaches participated in our Barefoot for Bare Feet Initiative in both 2009 and 2010. All because one man said 'yes' to a simple request to coach barefoot."

Rotary International, with over 33,000 Clubs and 1.2 million members in over 200 countries serves on the United Nations NGO Voting Academy.

“We at Rotary International are honored to serve on the voting committee for the United Nations NGO Positive Peace Awards,” says RI General Secretary Ed Futa. “Every day, Rotary’s 1.2 million members address the question, how do we make our world a better place? How appropriate that these awards recognize those individuals and organizations that are asking the same question and taking the necessary steps to achieve positive change in our world.”

The winner of the sports categories for 2010 United Nations NGO Positive Peace Award will be announced in mid December.

About Celebrate Positive
Celebrate Positive, in coordination with the United Nations and its non-government organizations like, Rotary International, Sister Cities International and Pathways to Peace provides a platform to recognize communities, businesses, schools, athletes and entertainers for the positive work to make a difference in the world. Celebrate Positive has created a destination website that provides inspirational news from around the world as well as efforts being made by the United Nations to promote peace globally. For more information on Celebrate Positive or the organizations and agencies they work with, visit www.celebratepositive.com.