Special shoes for special athletes

Special shoes for special athletes
GARY — Richard Caesar headed out the door Wednesday afternoon of Arc Bridges on a mission.
Caesar, a client of the not-for-profit organization for developmentally challenged adults, made a beeline for Noelle Thomas-Desso’s car. Caesar was eager to pick up the large box in her trunk.
It was full of new athletic shoes, donated by Schererville-based Fleet Feet Sports to Caesar and 24 other clients who will head June 2-4 to Terre Haute to compete in track and field events at the 2011 Indiana Special Olympics Summer Games.
“Do I get a new pair? I’m excited!” Caesar gushed,customize osiris shoes, peering into the box. “They’re brand new ones! I hope my size is in there.”
Inside the gym the lucky recipients — clients from Arc Bridges’ workshops in Crown Point, Gary, Highland and Hobart — sat on chairs arranged in a horseshoe shape, waiting to be fitted.
Leandra Bryant, a freestyle swimmer who also plays basketball and runs track, had her shoes off, her stocking feet straight out in front of her, poised for her turn. She wasn’t fazed by the fact that she was about 20 people down the line.
“Come on down!” Katrina Aaron called, clapping her hands as Thomas-Desso approached. “What’s your name?” she asked. “Hi, Noelle!”
Thomas-Desso patiently measured each athlete’s feet with a Brannock device, and she and Arc Bridges recreation director Susan Boyer lined up the shoes by size.
Caesar, who couldn’t wait, made his way to the shoes from the other end of the gym and was fitted with his new shoes.
He waived his arms excitedly.
“Good?” Arc Bridges development director Becky Cogley called across the gym to Caesar. She got a thumbs up.
“There’s a cushion inside them!” he said, bouncing in the shoes.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to go show Lori,” he told Arc Bridges Director Sue Crisman, heading out of the gym to his supervisor’s office.
“Richard is one of our athletes who shows up at track with the wrong kind of footwear,” Boyer said, One year he was knocked off the team at the Special Olympics games for doing so. So the new shoes were appreciated almost as much by administrators as by the athletes.
Boyer said the athletes have received sponsorships from civic clubs to compete in the games. It costs $250 to send each athlete.
But it was the first time the athletes received a donation of athletic shoes.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Boyer said. “We’ve had people who haven’t had new shoes in 10 years. The proper equipment is important. It was really nice for Noelle to fit their feet for proper shoes.”
Crisman wasn’t surprised at the clients’ uber-happy reactions.
“Most of them probably have never had custom-fit shoes,” she said. “The majority of folks we serve don’t have money. For them to have this kind of opportunity is a treat.”
Thomas-Desso said she was moved by the athletes’ appreciation of their new shoes, donated by athletic brands Saucony and Brooks.
“How do you put that into words?” she said. “To be able to give back is almost as cool as what we do here at Fleet Feet,” she said. “Our main goal is to get people to change their lives and get more active by fitting them biomechanically to get them in the right shoe.
“It was extra special to see the excitement today,” she said.