Julia Sanders

Thanks to Excel Fitness, several food banks in the Southeast are well stocked. The staff at Excel Fitness put together two separate food drives to support their local communities.

Excel’s South Central North Carolina team came together to support the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina with a region-wide food drive. The group set up collection boxes at every club in the region. With the help and generosity of their members and staff, the group collected 1,178 pounds of food, which provided 981 meals for families in need in the area.

This September, the franchise group’s North Dallas Region participated in a region-wide peanut butter drive for the North Texas Food Bank. Eight of Excel’s clubs had donation bins for the peanut butter. This annual peanut butter drive helps kids with food insecurity in the North Texas area.

Due to the hard-working staff at Excel Fitness, they were able to donate 1,290 pounds of peanut butter. Its Sherman club collected a whopping 337 pounds at just that location. In total, 85,128 pounds of peanut butter were collected. These contributions helped the North Texas Food Bank provide nutritious options for more than 254,000 children facing hunger in North Texas.

“The peanut butter drive is about more than jars collected. It’s about coming together to make sure children in our community don’t go hungry,” said CEO of North Texas Food Bank Trisha Cunningham.

On Sept. 27, Excel Fitness’s Colony and Farmers Branch clubs sponsored the Bow Wow Luau at Hawaiian Waters Water Park in The Colony, Texas. Once a year, the Hawaiian Waters Water Park opens its doors and allows dogs and their owners to cool off and enjoy the waterpark. Admission is $25, and a portion of the proceeds goes toward The Colony Animal Shelter’s Injured Animal Fund, giving animals a chance at a fulfilling life.

As a sponsor for the event, Excel Fitness gave a donation to the cause. The franchise group also had a booth set up to inform people at the event about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle as a member at Planet Fitness^®. There were approximately 1,000 people there, along with a lot of dogs with wagging tails. This event allowed the franchise group to give back to a great cause, join in the community fun and share the perks of being a PF^® member.

“Giving back to our communities and being able to make a positive impact is something that we strive for each and every day! We take pride in building communities through fitness, and it gives us a sense of purpose by allowing us to connect with our community members in a meaningful way. I am so proud and grateful for the amazing leaders and managers that represent the North Dallas region,” said Julie Carney-Ayala, regional manager at Excel Fitness.

EPIC Fitness showed support for its local Detroit clubs by partnering with the Kirk Gibson Foundation. Kirk Gibson is widely known in the Detroit, Michigan, area for his role as a Detroit Tigers baseball player where he helped the team win the 1984 World Series. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2015, which led him to expand his foundation to include Parkinson’s awareness and quality of life improvement for those suffering from the disease.

This October, the foundation opened the Kirk Gibson Center in metro Detroit, which serves as a wellness center with programs for Parkinson’s Disease patients. EPIC Fitness gladly donated equipment for the new facility. This helped save the foundation money on fitness equipment. The donation included four treadmills, two bikes, two rowers, two ellipticals and free weights.

EPIC Fitness didn’t stop with its involvement in the worthy cause there. The franchise group also sponsored Kirk Gibson Foundation CEO Steve Annear on his climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, a hike in northeastern Tanzania that can take up to 10 days to complete. While the hike itself is difficult, Annear is an amputee, who was able to accomplish this challenging hike in nine days.

As a sponsor of the hike, EPIC Fitness donated money to the Kirk Gibson Foundation and provided Steve and his wife PF^® memberships to use to train for the hike. Through the hike, Annear was able to raise over $1,040,000 for the Kirk Gibson Center.

“Planet Fitness^® has been a wonderful partner in our climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. Not only has their sponsorship of the climb been important to our fundraising success, Planet Fitness’s donation of equipment to the Kirk Gibson Center assists us in providing free programming to the Parkinson’s community in Southeast Michigan. The people at Planet Fitness have been so supportive of both the Kilimanjaro climb and the opening of the center, and we are very grateful for all they have done to assist us,” said Annear.