Genesis Donates Basketball Gym to School Serving Kids In Need
Posted: September 23, 2022 in Chains
Genesis Health Clubs
WICHITA, KS – A recent donation from Rodney Steven II, owner of Genesis Health Clubs, has had a big impact on a Kansas school and its surrounding neighborhood.
Holy Savior Catholic Academy’s primary mission is to provide quality education to under-resourced children in Wichita, Kansas. This Pre-K through 8th grade school primarily serves minority students of any or no religious affiliation, with the vast majority of them receiving free or reduced cost lunches. Currently, the academy teaches over 200 children.
The Holy Savior Catholic Academy reached out to Steven for help funding the construction of a new addition to their school: a gymnasium. This gym was built from scratch, with the goal of providing a recreational space for nearby children.
In response, Genesis Health Clubs agreed to assist with the gymnasium. They provided a brand-new floor for the academy’s community gym, helping to make the gym a reality for not only the students, but children within the neighborhood as well. Having a space like this will provide more options for kids in the area to lead an active lifestyle. The academy’s president, Dr. Delia Shropshire, stated that this new floor was a gift to the community.
“Thanks to the generous donations of Genesis Health Clubs”, she said, “our gym will create opportunities for children living in our neighborhood to play in a gym that has not been available before.”
Donating to better the lives of local children is not new for Genesis and Rodney. The Genesis Foundation for Fitness & Tennis, also known as GFFT, is a non-profit which donates regularly to children in the Wichita area with the goal of improving quality of life and emphasizing the importance of physical activity for a healthy lifestyle. They make their donations through grants and unique programs designed to assist disadvantaged children. One such program is the Kicks for Kids program.
Kicks for Kids is a program started by GFFT in 2019. It provides new shoes to under-resourced children, which leads to many benefits for the kids, including an increase in physical activity, school attendance, and self-confidence.
The accounting team from Genesis Health Clubs recently visited Holy Savior Catholic Academy to check out the new gymnasium floor and to measure the students’ feet for new athletic shoes, provided by the Wichita Kicks for Kids program. This program has given out thousands of pairs of shoes to disadvantaged children in the area throughout the past four years. Volunteers work together to meet the kids, measure their feet, and then deliver them brand new shoes in the perfect size.
GFFT was formed in 2006 by Genesis Health Clubs and is guided by an independent volunteer Board of Directors from the community. Since then, they have donated thousands of dollars in grants to local kids and have worked to provide shoes and beds for children for free. Genesis Health Clubs is the largest privately owned health club organization in the United States, with 59 clubs spanning across Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Florida.
