Small Gesture, Big Love: 70 Affiliates Send CrossFit Swag to South African Coaches
During the CrossFit Open this year, Athena Perez, coach and owner of Scaled Nation CrossFit, started talking to a coach at CrossFit Algoa in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The coach casually mentioned that acquiring CrossFit swag, even T-shirts, was difficult in South Africa. Shipping and tax costs are through the roof, to the point that a $35 (USD) shirt might cost $120 (USD) or more after shipping and a country-imposed value-add tax (VAT).
And because the exchange rate is 18 to one, this is close to a month’s rent for many in South Africa.
For the CrossFit Algoa coach, even acquiring a simple CrossFit shirt wasn’t worth it.
- “She confessed that owning such a shirt would be a dream come true,” Perez wrote on Instagram. “I was taken aback by this revelation. The scarcity of CrossFit shirts in South Africa was puzzling.”
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Perez, who has been sharing her fitness journey with Morning Chalk Up readers, took matters into her own hands, committing herself to get this coach a T-shirt.
- “However, the mission quickly evolved into something much larger,” she said.
Perez spread the word, and within 20 minutes, someone wanted to donate money. Five minutes later, someone else sent Perez a message telling her to start a campaign to get all of the coaches at CrossFit Algoa a shirt.
- “And I was like, ‘Wow, we can totally do this,’” Perez told the Morning Chalk up.
Within one day, 70 CrossFit affiliates, coaches, and members donated enough money to cover the costs of sending some CrossFit swag to CrossFit Algoa.
Further, brands such as VNDK8 Equipment Company and PRVN Fitness donated apparel, stickers, and patches to send.
The result: Perez shipped 42 shirts, four for each coach at CrossFit Algoa, and covered the $700 shipping charge and the $150 VAT with the money the campaign had raised.
- “Their reaction was insane. They were crying. They were very emotional. It was amazing. It brought me to tears,” she said.
The big picture: The reality is that if you live outside the US, exchange rates, shipping charges, and taxes can make it completely unaffordable to purchase CrossFit-related retail products.
The box of apparel Perez sent to South Africa, for example, would have cost CrossFit Algoa $2,500 in South African dollars in just taxes and fees alone, Perez said.
- “This is why many people in foreign countries feel like they’re kind of left out because it makes it impossible for them to order gear. Not just t-shirts, but equipment. Anything and everything that North America can get is almost impossible for some of these countries overseas,” Perez said.
Featured image: @crossfitalgoa / Instagram