Anytime Fitness co-founders Chuck Runyon and Dave Mortensen appeared on Sunday night’s episode of ABC’s hit show, “Secret Millionaire.” Keeping their true identities concealed, Runyon and Mortensen volunteered for several organizations assisting disadvantaged individuals, including the OKC Youth Wrestling Foundation and Limbs for Life. One organization, Closer to Earth, wasn’t feature on the show due to time constraints — read Runyon’s interview below to discover what you didn’t see on TV.
Chuck Runyon, CEO and co-founder of Anytime Fitness:
When we worked with the OKC Youth Wrestling Foundation, the younger kids (8-12) still had their innocence and optimism. Closer to Earth works with teenagers (13-18) and their youthful innocence was gone. Instead, they had a layer of cynicism and leeriness. Some of them are trying to stay out of trouble and others are fulfilling court-ordered community service. So it took two to three visits for Dave and me to earn their trust. But, once they let their guard down, they shared their hopes, dreams and peeled back the layers to reveal a youthful optimism to “be something.”
One of the kids, Chris Brown, wanted to be a police officer. And sadly, some of his cousins and friends had been killed in gang shootings. As he grew more comfortable with us, he shared a rap song and, on the last day, created a rap song with Dave and me in it.
Another girl named Khadijah had dreams of becoming a nurse. This young lady was forced to be mature for her age by having to take care of her family members. A smart, hard working girl with a huge heart, Khadijah just needs a chance and she’ll be successful.
A third young boy named Benito wants to be a scientist. This kid is special. Quiet, hard working, friendly, caring and mature beyond his years, Benito has a heart of gold.
Dave and I enjoyed all the kids but we had a stronger connection with these three.
In addition to the kids, Allen Parlier is a unique person who is teaching these kids about life through agriculture, gardening and hard work. He is soft-spoken, empathetic and a role model for these kids that badly need one. During each meeting, the kids meet at the beginning and end to share the best and worst parts of their day and their performance. This provides an opportunity to connect and speak confidently in front of the group and, with each visit, the kids showed more of their personality.
On our last day, Dave and I revealed our true identities at the start of the meeting. We gave Allen $25,000 — which is another complete year of funding for his program. We also set up a $20,000 college scholarship fund for the kids of Closer to Earth and during the meeting, we looked at Benito and said, “you can be a scientist.” We turned to Khadijah and said, “you can be a nurse” and we turned to Chris Brown and said, “you can now be a police officer.”
All three had the same reaction: stunned. They didn’t talk but their eyes said everything and, for as long as I live, I’ll never forget Khadijah’s eyes. They were filled with hope. Benito had the same reaction and Chris Brown — normally the fast-talking, gregarious type — stared at the check with his head down for over five minutes. It was a raw, cool, unforgettable moment.
After everyone hugged, we said that we had one more gift. Allen’s vehicle was beat up and he needed more room to pick up kids and haul materials for work. So we made an arrangement with the ABC crew and they drove a truck up to our meeting area with the Closer to Earth logo already on the truck. The kids went crazy! They rushed the vehicle and were dancing in the truck bed and checking out the interior. Best of all is that they were filled with joy for Allen because he never had a nice truck with any air conditioning.
It was really cool to see the kids get so happy for Allen and the kids were dancing and going crazy. In fact, this is the photo you see in the St. Paul paper today and I thought this would have been the perfect ending to the show, but unfortunately, they didn’t use the organization due to time constraints.
To watch the full episode, visit http://abc.go.com/shows/secret-millionaire.
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
Tihs is a great program for Kids, I wish we had more programs like this. This gives them Hope when people and society have let them down. Keep-up the good work and thanks to the two millionaires that invested in their future. I am impressed with theri insight, that they had enough insight to see who the kids are and what they can become.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Shirley Johnson. It’s always great to see individuals who see a need and who are willing to make an investment; giving back with time and money. What an inspiring article. Great job, keep up the good work!