Why the Shinns are big backers of the sneaker exchange

A self-made man, George Shinn describes his life story as one of “rags to riches.” His father died when Shinn was a young boy of 8, living in North Carolina, but he was sustained by a mother who maintained that he could do anything he put his mind to.

“She never gave up on me,” says Shinn, who has parlayed a sense of confidence, motivation and faith into a remarkably successful career as a business entrepreneur and as former owner of the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets.

Six years ago, Shinn and wife Denise drove up to Vero Beach one Sunday from their seasonal home in Jupiter and found it to be the quiet beachside enclave they were seeking. They have owned a succession of houses here over the years, before eventually settling into a spacious oceanfront home at Ocean Pearl.

“In the past we didn’t spend that much time here. Each year we’re spending more and more time. When we go back we miss it,” says Denise Shinn, adding that after the recent death of her father, they even purchased a home at Grand Harbor for her mother.

Through the George Shinn Foundation, the couple has donated significant philanthropic gifts to various charities, from the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes near their current home base of Nashville, to as far away as the George Shinn Foundation Clinic in Port-au-Prince Haiti.

“I’ve been very blessed; I’ve been very fortunate in business. I just feel that God somehow touched me and gave me things,” says Shinn. “And it’s part of my responsibility to give back and help others. That’s my goal.”

Having regularly provided shoes and socks to the homeless at Christmas, the couple became interested in Happy Feet, a funding mechanism for the Education Foundation of Indian River County Sneaker Exchange, after reading an article about the program in Vero Beach 32963. The Sneaker Exchange provides sneakers and socks to the more than 60 percent of children eligible for the school district’s free/reduced lunch program.

“Maybe God put us here for that reason,” says Shinn. “When we saw the article, we thought, this is similar.”

“We were shocked when we read the story and saw the need here,” says Denise. “Our heart is more for children’s-related charities and the underprivileged. We want to give back to those in need.”

And give back they did last Friday morning when they headed out to Payless ShoeStore to see the program in action. The Shinns donated $16,000 to help fund the program and also made the day a particularly special one for a busload of Glendale Elementary students by gifting them a second pair of shoes.

“You’re here to pick out a pair of sneakers,” said Denise. “But because you’ve all done so well in school, you’re going to get to pick out another pair of shoes as well. And you can pick out anything you want.”

George and Denise quickly found themselves immersed in helping the youngsters fit shoes to personalities – from one little girl’s first pair of “high” heels to a young boy’s steel-toed work boots. A number of children, not knowing when they would get another pair of shoes, took advantage of the opportunity to get a second, slightly larger pair of sneakers to grow into.

“I didn’t realize there was such a difference between the wealthy and the poor here,” said George Shinn. “I’m really surprised.”

Shinn knows about poverty. As a young man attending business school, he was about to quit after running out of money when the director gave him a job as a janitor. He was hired as a recruiter after a chance encounter with potential students led to their enrollment and proved such an effective salesman he earned enough to purchase that school and others. He sold what had then become the largest chain of business schools in the country to purchase the Hornets expansion team.

“That changed my life,” says Shinn. Remembering his mother’s advice to “just go with confidence,” he brought the team up from the smallest market in the NBA to the largest. “For the next 11 years, we led the NBA in attendance; it was just phenomenal. It was mind-boggling. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have that kind of success.”

Shinn was diagnosed in 2009 with prostate cancer and sold the team in 2010 for $300 million. “It’s an eye opener to hear the word cancer. That was an awaking for me. At that particular point I decided I had to make some changes in my personal life. Primarily get my life right with the Lord. It was a great ride while it lasted but I don’t even watch games now. We’ve got so many other things we do with our lives.”

Thanks to Denise, a former nurse who encourages a healthy diet and exercise – including a 20-mile bike ride five days a week – Shinn is healthier now than when they first met about 15 years ago.

An avid classic car collector, with an impressive “car barn” in Nashville, Shinn has also set his sights on the old Diesel Power Plant, hoping to one day turn it into a car museum, with collectible cars on the ground floor and a second level dedicated to memorabilia from friend Rick Hendrick, owner of the American NASCAR team.

“He’s the king; and a great, great, super guy,” says Shinn. “He could fill that thing up; fans would love it. I think it would be a good marriage. Something like that, I think, would be wonderful for the community; another draw.”

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