help, assist, defend, shoe upper
帮 centers on giving support: helping, assisting, or defending someone. The "shoe upper" meaning is a specialized extension of the idea of a supportive covering.
帮 is a simplified form of 幫, which originally combined 封 (boundary, to seal) with 帛 (silk). The older form suggests the idea of reinforcing or supporting with silk, later extended to helping or assisting. The modern simplification replaces the upper part with 邦, which may contribute a phonetic hint while keeping the bottom 巾 (cloth).
The top 邦 (country) and bottom 巾 (cloth) together suggest a country wrapping itself in cloth for protection. Picture a nation helping its people by providing a supportive covering, like a shoe upper that defends the foot.
For ホウ, imagine a helper shouting "Hold on!" as they assist someone in need: "Hold on!" -> ホウ, and the helper's support is like a sturdy shoe upper.