In their fourth year, Nike and the Doernbecher Foundation freshens up with six new sneakers designed by patients from the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. This year Alice Heinz, Mike Armstrong, Sheridan Brenton, Roma Ugarte, Ricky Rudd and Whitney McClain were the designers. The baseball inspired Dunk Low above was designed by Ricky Rudd.
The Nike Doernbecher Freestyle 4 collection will be available starting November 9 at Niketowns in the US and on NikeStore.com.
> NikeStore.com
> OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
Check out the entire collection below and a little more about Doernbecher Freestyle…
Doernbecher Freestyle was created in 2004 when Doernbecher Foundation board member Michael Doherty invited one of Nike’s shoe designers to take a tour of the hospital. It was designer Marcus Tayui’s vision to see patients design shoes with the proceeds benefitting the hospital that in many cases has saved their lives.
Part of the program involves a launch party held in September where more than 300 business and community leaders come together to see the shoes, bid on a limited pair and meet the patients/designers in person.
Now in its fourth year, this extraordinary program has raised more than $500,000 for the hospital, which uses the funds for everything from clinical programs and hospital construction to providing care for uninsured children. This year’s patient designers come from Doernbecher’s cancer, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, trauma and nephrology programs.
