Actor Ashton Kutcher has been using community.com to communicate with his fans, but he recently took the interactions to another level. The actor known for That ’70s Show and Dude, Where’s My Car? provided a cross-country team in Texas with new shoes for an upcoming meet. One of the athletes was injured while running in everyday shoes, so his mother decided to contact Kutcher.
“If I could have bought them myself, I would have done it,” Gutierrez said, per CNN. However, she explained that she’s a single mother with three children. “I’ve been following him for a long [time] and I know about all the work that he does for the kids and everything, and I thought ‘Come on, let’s give it a shot.’”
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Gutierrez did not expect a response from Kutcher, especially after receiving an auto-reply message, but she was sent another message days later telling her to send over a list of what was needed.
“I didn’t think much of it, I didn’t know if it was true or if I was being played or if it was just something that it wasn’t going to happen,” Gutierrez said.
However, there were six pairs of Asics running shoes waiting for the team on Friday. One of the athletes wore size 13 shoes, which took longer than expected to track down. Still, the entire donation came together in less than one week.
With these new shoes, the team won the regional meet and came in third place at state. Gutierrez believes that the gift provided an extra boost. Although the members of the team did not actually know who Kutcher is.
“Some of them were like ‘Who is Ashton?’ like some of them didn’t even know,” she said. “The moms were more excited than the kids were. The moms were the most excited of all.”
Kutcher’s representatives did check in on the team and wish them luck, but neither the actor or his team have bragged about the gift to the team. In fact, they have been silent about the entire matter. CNN emailed the man that Gutierrez said arranged the gift. However, they have not received any response.
Regardless of the fact that Kutcher is not taking credit for the gift, Gutierrez told CNN that she wanted to talk about it so that they would know how grateful she and the team are.
“I didn’t expect it to happen and I’m very grateful for it,” she said. “The only thing we want is to say thank you for everything he has done.”
Photo Credit: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for WeWork
