Planet Fitness gifts bike to member in need

Warwick Beacon ·

Planet Fitness in Warwick – like all gyms within the Planet Fitness network – are known as places where anybody, no matter their weight or personality, can come in and feel welcomed and able to work on their personal health without the fear of judgment.

For one local young man, the staff and some gym members of the Warwick Avenue Planet Fitness turned out to be much more than simply nonjudgmental – they proved to be the type of friends that everybody hopes to have in life.

Andrew Welker was diagnosed with autism when he was two and a half years old. His mother, Liz, says that he was nonverbal until four and didn’t learn how to ride a bike until he was 14. He originally swam at the YMCA before getting a membership at Planet Fitness in Warwick.

Without a steady ride to the gym, Andrew would cycle there usually four times a week – rain, sleet, hail or snow – in order to work on his fitness. However, Andrew found he was able to work on something else by being a member at Planet Fitness.

“Here we try to emphasize family and community and all of our members are a part of that,” said gym manager Shelby Porter. “Andrew is also a huge part of that. Whenever he comes in he brightens our day and brings so much energy to the club.”

While Liz described Andrew as a very shy individual prior to going to the gym, she has noticed his social skills have seen significant development since he started working out. She said he talks about staff at the gym as though they are close personal friends, and the feeling is mutual with the gym staff.

“It’s crucial, it’s absolutely crucial,” Liz said of Andrew finding a place where people treat him kindly and with respect. “It really warms my heart...I’m thrilled for him that he has this wonderful social outlet where people really care about him and he’s able to fit in.”

Around this past February, gym staff noticed that Andrew wasn’t coming in as regularly as he normally does. They inquired as to why when he came in one day and found out that his bike’s chain had broken one day while riding to the gym. That day, he had walked with his broken bike all the way to the gym and had been walking to the gym since.

Planet Fitness staff originally tried to look into getting Andrew a used bike off the internet. However, after fearing the bike would simply break again, they grouped together with the help of some gym members who are also parishioners at the Norwood Baptist Church and pooled together resources to buy Andrew a brand-new bike.

“He came home one day and said ‘Mikey bought me a bike,’” Liz recalled. “I said, ‘Who’s Mikey and what’s the bike all about?’ I figured out Mikey was a Planet Fitness employee and I was so stunned by it. I called them and said this is Liz Welker, Andrew’s mom, and for the first time in 51 and a half years, I’m speechless. Thank you so much for what you’ve done.”

For Liz, who has a neurological condition herself known as Chiari and found great difficulty fitting in as a child due to it, she is grateful to everybody who has taken a liking to Andrew and made him feel welcome and important.

“He really lights their lives up when he goes in and that warms my heart deeply,” she said. “I’m blown away by this whole thing.”