Supporting Those ‘Who Risk Their Lives to Keep Us Safe’

Team Foot Levelers was honored to kick off an unprecedented partnership with the brave men and women of Roanoke Fire-EMS this week, our hometown’s first responders. One-hundred and sixty-five of the Star City’s finest will be product-testing a new Foot Levelers orthotic top cover, designed for the toughest jobs and lifestyles!

The Roanoke Press Corps was also out in force to help share the news with our community. Check out some of their recent stories:

• From WSLS Channel 10: “Foot Levelers Gives Back to Roanoke Firefighters“
• From WDBJ Channel 7: “Foot Levelers Partners with Roanoke Fire-EMS to Test Product Improvement“
• From WSET Channel 13: “Firefighters Get Custom Orthotics from Foot Levelers“
• From The Roanoke Times: “Foot Levelers Enlists Firefighters to Test New Orthotics“
• From WFIR Talk Radio: “Roanoke Firefighters Receive Free Custom Orthotics During Test“
• And look for a piece from WFXR Channel 21 coming soon too!

“Roanoke Fire-EMS is excited to partner with Foot Levelers on this exciting opportunity,” said Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback. “We can’t wait to see how these custom products will benefit our firefighters.”

“Every new Foot Levelers product and product element must go through an intensive series of tests,” said Steve Stone, Foot Levelers Senior Vice President… “There aren’t many folks who work in tougher environments or who are harder on their feet and bodies than first responders; plus, as a company, we’re always looking for ways to give back…What better way than to support the selfless men and women who are out there every day risking their lives to keep us safe?”

Good news for our firefighters, who frequently suffer from back pain: a major clinical trial to be published in The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation conclusively shows that Low Back Pain improves with Foot Levelers custom orthotics. We’ll be sharing more on this exciting development soon!

Behind the Scenes with Junior Achievement Today

Today at the beautiful Patrick Henry ballroom in downtown Roanoke, Kent and his wife Boska delivered the #50Kfor50K matching grant check to our friends at Junior Achievement Southwest Virginia. Here are a few shots from this exciting day.

Q&A with Kent in Our Hometown Paper

Check out this fun and interesting Q&A with our fearless leader Kent Greenawalt in Foot Levelers’ hometown paper, The Roanoke Times. In it, Kent discusses his passion for the mission of Junior Achievement and his recent successful $50,000 challenge grant to raise money for our regional chapter. Thank you to The Roanoke Times and reporter Tiffany Holland, and congrats to Kent on behalf of your team!

We’re Proud of Our Employee Ernestine, and Honored to Help the Victims of the W.V. Floods

Flooding in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Source @rusman1981, Twitter.

In response to the recent devastating floods in West Virginia, Foot Levelers’ employee Ernestine Critzer wanted to help. Foot Levelers is just an hour and a half’s drive from the heart of the tragedy, after all, but for Ernestine, it’s even more personal. She grew up in White Sulphur Springs, WV, located Greenbrier County, the area hardest hit. Statewide, 23 people were killed, and 14 of those were from Greenbrier. More than 1,200 homes were destroyed.

Ernestine has made several trips to her hometown since the June 23rd disaster, each time packing her car with supplies for the displaced.  Foot Levelers contributed over a hundred pairs of new shoes for men, women and children and about 40 therapeutic pillows to help out.

Ernestine at the Emmanuel United Methodist Church in White Sulphur Springs, which is collecting donations for flood victims and serving as a temporary relief center

Ernestine describes the scene at the Relief Center: “A lot of people getting helped, lots of people helping, including those who had lost everything themselves. …The man who runs [the relief center]… he has been sleeping there with his dog Matilda, because they were homeless, too, his home completely destroyed.”

Ernestine’s elderly parents still live in the area, and for many hours, she was unable to reach them. “… It took us a long time to find them; we had the state police out looking for them… We finally found out they were safe at the Wal-mart, who had opened the doors to let people in.”

It will take a long time for these communities to recover from the flooding, and help is still desperately needed. Please consider a donation of money or supplies if you can.  Dozens of organizations around the nation are collecting donations and holding fundraisers–here’s a great article listing some of the main ones. You can also donate to the Red Cross and designate your funds for the West Virginia flood victims.

Foot Levelers donated over 100 pairs of shoes and dozens of pillows to the victims. Here our team member Chris unloads the truck to help Ernestine pack up her car with supplies.

Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia to Honor Foot Levelers’ CEO

This just in: Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia has selected Foot Levelers’ Chairman and CEO Kent S. Greenawalt to induct into its Business Hall of Fame!  The event is marked by a special awards dinner November 1, 2016 in Roanoke, Virginia, Foot Levelers’ hometown. Community business leaders are selected by a committee of their peers to recognize “their significant contributions to the Southwest Virginia region.”

If you’re in the area and want to attend the region’s “biggest night in business,” you can buy tickets here. The dinner takes place at the historic Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center downtown.

We’ll be counting down until the big day! And in the meantime, thanks Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia and congratulations Kent!

Giving Back

Behind the scenes at Foot Levelers… Here are a few shots from yesterday, when team members loaded up our truck with donations for the Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and more serving Foot Levelers’ hometown of Roanoke, Virginia.   All told, we gave the Mission 16 15-lb. turkeys, 20 lbs. of hamburger and 49 of our therapeutic pillows.

Giving is an important part of Foot Levelers’ culture. To learn more, visit http://www.FootLevelers.com.