Hosted by former UConn star and current Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford board trustee, Donny Marshall, Donny’s Dash is open to runners and walkers of all ages. It enhances the Club’s health & wellness programming while also raising much needed funds for Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford. Fleet Feet Hartford is a generous sponsor of the race and has been since its inception four years ago.
Fleet Feet Donates New Shoes to Club Teens, Tweens
July 10, 2025
Shoes Will Help Club Members Put Their Best Foot Forward Ahead of Donny’s Dash 5K
Great Futures and Great Steps start at Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford, and they start with the kindness and generosity of our community partners.
Just in time for the heart of summer, Fleet Feet Hartford, located in West Hartford, donated 85 pairs of brand-new Nike sneakers to teens and tweens at Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford. This generous donation, worth more than $13,000, will ensure kids have shoes that not only fit well but are in style and demand for the summer.
“I was psyched to see how excited the boys and girls at the Club were,” said Fleet Feet Hartford owner David Jacobs after dropping off the shoes at the South End Club on July 8. “I was hoping seeing the Nike swoosh would get them pumped up and it did!”
Jacobs and Fleet Feet Hartford have been long-standing supporters of Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford and have donated running shoes to members in the past. This year, however, Jacobs wanted to up the ante.
He began working with his contacts at Nike in October to secure shoes that teens would be excited to wear.
“Jordan Taylor and Zach Rivers at Nike really advocated for this to happen and did a lot of internal lifting,” Jacobs said. As a result of this hard work and tenacity, Nike donated 60 pairs of shoes.
But that wasn’t enough for Jacobs.
“We determined 60 pairs just wasn’t enough and decided we wanted to step up financially. With time running short to get them to the kids before summer, we worked with one of Nike’s Run Specialty procurement leads, Amanda Hirschfield, to purchase 25 pairs of the very popular Nike Vomero shoes. They got them to the store within a week and a half,” Jacobs said.
The timing of the shoes’ arrival is perfect, not only for the active summer season, but for members training and preparing to run in the annual Donny’s Dash 5K this October.
The 2025 Donny’s Dash has a new pre-Halloween date promising a “scary good fall run!” Costumes are welcomed at the USA Certified-5K run and walk on October 25. The main race begins at 9am at Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center and is professionally managed by the Hartford Marathon Foundation. It will be followed by the Connecticut Sun Kids’ Fun Run, post-race awards, food, fun and music. Achilles International is also participating to support adaptive athletes.
Registration for Donny’s Dash is now open. Community members interested in volunteering instead of racing can sign up here.
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