FAYETTEVILLE, N.Y. (NCC News) — A local veterans organization will receive thousands of dollars from a Central New York gym’s fundraiser. KW Fitness’ Push Ups for Veterans raised $5,000 so far for Clear Paths for Veterans, an organization that helps soldiers coming from active duty transition back into civilian life.
KW Fitness’ founder and owner Kevin Webb has been running the event since the gym opened in 2014. He believes it’s a great way to say thank you to veterans.
“This event has been going on for seven years now, and we’ve raised over $40,000 over seven years to give back to our veterans,” Webb said.
The gym is still collecting donations and will give the money to the organization sometime next week. The money will benefit veterans from all military branches.
The goal of the event is for participants to see how many pushups they can do in 90 seconds. The event allows for these participants to donate in one of two ways. They can either donate before the event starts or make each push-up worth a certain amount of money.
“We’ve had anywhere from 50 cents a pushup to $3 per pushup,” Webb said. “We’ve had a wide range, you know, depending on what people want to donate.”
This event is personal to Webb. He enlisted in the Marines but ended up not being able to serve.
“ I had actually enlisted to go into the Marines, and through some circumstances, that ended up not happening,” Webb said. “So, once I started this business, I wanted to find a way to give back to our veterans and those who were able to serve, so this event helped to fulfill that purpose.”
The event did have to change this year because of COVID-19. It was held online through Facebook Live. Only the staff did the pushups in person. In years past, there has also been a raffle, but they had to get rid of it this year.
