Photo courtesy of Blessed Feet

ARLINGTON -- Romans 10:15 reads: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.”

The line of scripture headlines the Blessed Feet website, a non-profit organization founded and run by Luke Savage, a Rangers Minor Leaguer who signed as an undrafted free agent out of TCU in 2023.  

Blessed Feet has a simple mission: “To provide cleats, shoes and hope to kids in need.”

After years of work and buildup, Blessed Feet has grown from the small brainchild of Savage to a legitimate non-profit organization that provides tennis shoes, cleats and other baseball gear and equipment to underprivileged youths both locally and in the Dominican Republic. 

The idea for Blessed Feet came after a pair of mission trips to the Dominican Republic that Savage made while in high school at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas. It was an eye-opening experience for Savage, who realized how many simple things we take for granted in the United States. 

After the second trip in March 2020, right before COVID-19 shut down his senior baseball season and the rest of the world, Savage continued to connect with their interpreter, Joel Alexander, who is a pastor and youth baseball coach in the Dominican Republic.

Photo courtesy of Blessed Feet

“Going down there when we were like 16, 17, I was like, ‘Wow, we take so many things for granted,’” Savage said. “These kids are playing baseball for six to seven hours a day, bare feet and jeans. Again, we take just having baseball pants and cleats for granted.   

“[Alexander], he's been living in the Dominican his whole life. We'd FaceTime every week, and we asked him what we could do to help when we're not there. He was like, ‘Well, you guys have seen it, we just need basic gear.’ That was pretty much where the idea started.”

It started small. Savage and his brother gathered some lightly used cleats they had lying around the house that they grew out of. He then asked some teammates to do the same.

Very quickly, Savage realized it couldn’t be unique to his circle of friends and acquaintances. Plenty of people have outgrown cleats that are gathering dust or have the ability to buy and donate new ones. So for the next year, it became about figuring out how feasible this could be as a full-scale operation.

“From there, with help from my family and my high school coach, me and a bunch of people that are close to me, kind of built the website out and then we launched my freshman year of college [in 2021],” Savage explained. “We were not sure where this was gonna go, but just hoping we could get some people to donate, at least get the word out there about how they can help some communities that need stuff like this.”

More than a few ended up donating. 

Photo courtesy of Blessed Feet

In the last two years, Savage and Blessed Feet would continue to grow in both scope and donations. Since the organization was established, Savage has estimated they’ve collected thousands of cleats in his father’s barn. 

Friends, family, friends of friends and people he didn’t know all contributed to the cause. 

It often takes a village to complete a task like this. And Savage credits the village around him for the exponential growth of Blessed Feet as he’s continued his athletic and academic career at TCU. Both of his parents are on the board of directors -- his mother, Brooke, as secretary and treasurer and his father, David, as a board member. 

His roommate from TCU, G Allen, is also on the board of directors, and his high school friends, Ryan Patterson and Jake Burton, are the vice president and director of community engagement, respectively. 

“I've had help from a lot of amazing people,” Savage said. “I think if I tried to do it on my own, nothing ever would have gotten done. My family has been super supportive. I’ve really just been leaning on other people. Having amazing people around me has helped a ton.”

It took almost two years, but Blessed Feet has returned to the Dominican Republic twice since that last mission trip with Prestonwood Christian Academy in 2020. Both times to deliver all the donations they were lucky enough to round up. 

The first, in the summer of 2022, was not a test run per se, but a time to get the lay of the land. It was a weekend for Blessed Feet to understand just how big its impact could be. It provided gear for over 100 kids that summer.

Photo courtesy of Blessed Feet

Right after he signed his contract with the Rangers, Savage made his most recent trip to the Dominican Republic before reporting for Rookie ball. There, he delivered more gear -- tennis shoes, cleats, bats, catcher’s gear and more -- and hosted a small tournament with the children, mostly aged 12 to 18, over a weekend in San Pedro. 

“That was where it all came together and we're like, ‘Oh, wow, this is all worth it,’” Savage said. “Joel down in the Dominican, he got all the teams together. We used their field out behind, like, a sugarcane farm. It's a really cool setup for us to be able to go down there, but he organized a bunch of that. I would say we're definitely gonna want to do that over and over again.

“It was awesome to just see the way that they interacted and also the passion that they have for the game. It’s special.”

Photo courtesy of Blessed Feet

As he begins his first full professional season in 2024, Savage hopes to continue serving the people around him and dedicating his time to Blessed Feet. 

The Rangers have been supportive in his endeavors, even donating $5,000 to the organization during the 2023 college baseball season, when TCU played at Globe Life Field. 

As much as Savage loves baseball, it’s always been about more than that in his life. 

“I love baseball, and I feel like that's what I was called to do,” Savage said. “Obviously the relationships that it comes with are super special. But at the same time, I think baseball is just like what gives me a platform to be able to do this. Being able to give back I think is what's really meaningful.” 

Last Friday, Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien and pitcher Andrew Heaney participated in the club’s annual Thanksgiving dinner distribution at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy in West Dallas. 

The Youth Academy once again partnered with the non-profit Buckner International from Kroger grocery store to host the event, providing over 250 full-sized turkeys, pies and other Thanksgiving sides for families in need. Many of the participants are Youth Academy families according to Karin Morris, the senior vice president of community impact and the executive director of the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.

Semien has been a regular participant at Youth Academy events since joining the club after the 2021 season and has participated in the Thanksgiving distribution event every year.  

“Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday,” Semien said. “There's no presents, but I think it's a gift just to be with everybody. I have a large family now, [and] we get to make memories and enjoy good food. We're here today at the Academy to help families enjoy that same thing. Not everybody is blessed to be able to get that big meal. The Rangers are doing a great job of providing that. So I’m happy to be here.

“It's amazing,” Heaney added. “Obviously, everybody here is just happy to have a good meal. Everybody wants to gather around with your family and friends and just enjoy each other's company and the presence of their loved ones. It's something that we should all take time to appreciate.”

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