Kindred spirits focus on charity at new gym
Anthony DelGatto met a kindred spirit when he met Work Out World co-owner and general manager Donnie Nance.
Both came from blue collar neighborhoods, both Italian, and both worked their way up through the fitness industry from the ground up.
When Nance opened the new location at the Dartmouth Mall last fall, he knew he wanted DelGatto as his assistant manager.
Both are committed to giving back to the community. They are already working on their second fundraiser.
They are currently fundraising for A Wish Come True based in Warwick, Rhode Island, so that the wishes of local children can be granted. They are selling St. Patrick’s Day paper cutout hats for a minimum of $1 that donors can sign to show their support.
The need to give back
After being part of a group that went to Syria in 2018 to fight ISIS and liberated a city under the control of radicalized jihadist groups and seeing people running out of their homes to greet you because they are so appreciative, DelGatto missed the feeling that he could be of help to the world.
When DelGatto asked Nance what he thought about holding a toy drive at the gym to benefit children in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families, he signed off on the idea with the blessing of Work Out World CEO Michael Poirier.
It was a tough life moving from foster home to foster home growing up, but it has been motivation for DelGatto to want to give back to children in similar situations.
He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, with a mother who had issues with drugs and a father who was never around. When he got into trouble in school, the police were sent to his house, and he and his two brothers - all a year apart - were removed from the home.
“I grew up in temporary foster homes in state care and got bounced around, and those places were horrible back in the 90s,” he said.
He remembers those Christmas mornings when there were no toys under the tree. He can relate.
Nance remembers his mother making up excuses during a rough time when he didn’t get gifts at Christmastime.
“I was definitely all for that because there’s nothing that’s worse than a kid waking up going, ‘wow, I got nothing, am I that bad?” he said.
It was all by word of mouth, and even non-members who heard about it donated. The toys and other gifts are sorted and distributed to different churches so they don’t get to know where they went and to whom, but as long as the young people got them, they’re happy.
He sees DelGatto taking over as manager in the future while he opens up another location.
While they are still getting to know everyone, hearing the members who donated say that no one had done anything like it at the gym before makes them feel good, Nance said.
“I just said, this is Work Out World 2.0, we’re managers that care,” he said.
Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Foster care leaves long-lasting impression on Work Out World employees
