Health & Fitness
FITniche to Donate Shoes to Special Olympic Athletes
FITniche, which has stores in Hyde Park, Wesley Chapel and Lakeland, will donate more than 300 pairs of gently used athletic shoes to Special Olympics athletes on Saturday.
Hundreds of Special Olympics athletes will get to walk – and run and jump –in another athlete’s shoes on March 23 when FITniche donates more than 300 pairs of gently used shoes that have been returned to their three stores.
Athletes participating in the Area 8 Summer Games at the University of South Florida will receive the shoes, says FITniche owner Rich Wills. The fittings will take place between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
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FITniche has a policy that allows customers to try their new athletic shoes for up to 15 days to ensure they fit properly and perform as expected. Customers can exchange them for another pair within that timeframe if they need a different shoe or size.
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The returned shoes can’t be resold, so Wills got creative a couple of years ago and found a way to give the shoes new life.
“The shoes are practically new and still have lots of life left in them,” said Wills, who also is a Special Olympics coach for athletes representing Alliance for Independence in Lakeland. “We felt like this was a win-win.”
Wills and some of his FITniche staff will fit the athletes for the shoes to ensure they get a pair that will benefit them. In the past, they went to the state games to give the shoes away.
“The demand among athletes far outnumbered the number of shoes we had,” he said. “By giving the shoes away at the Area Games, we feel like we can more adequately meet the demand.”
This isn’t the only way FITniche repurposes shoes. Customers who buy new shoes often leave their old ones at the store. FITniche has partnered with Lighthouse Ministries, an organization that provides a variety of services to the homeless population in Lakeland, which provides the old shoes to homeless people in need.
About FITniche
FITniche is a specialty running and fitness store founded by Rich Wills in 2002. The store’s mission is to give every customer the gift of their knowledge and make adult exercise fun. All team members at FITniche are trained extensively, and are experts in suggesting athletic shoes based on each person’s unique biomechanics.
