In lieu of Pizza Monday and Bagel Tuesday at Planet Fitness^®, PF Michigan Group (PFMG), owned by Bryan Rief and Pete Hopkins, is making donations to local food banks. In the wake of the pandemic, unemployment numbers rose, increasing the demand for necessities at food banks across the country.

Because clubs are temporarily unable to serve pizza, bagels and Tootsie Rolls, team members thought about how they could channel this effort into serving their communities. PFMG’s six clubs in the Toledo, Ohio, area have made financial contributions to Food For Thought food banks to help meet the rising need. Each month, on what would be Pizza Monday or Bagel Tuesday, posters are displayed in each club with a QR code encouraging members to donate.

Because of the pandemic, most food banks have not been hosting food drives like they normally would for canned goods and non-perishable items. Therefore, monetary donations are crucial to meet the increasing demand, which is up as high as 40% in some areas. 

“Each location has told us how COVID-19 has presented challenges for them to keep up with demand,” said Mary Scott, director of marketing for PFMG. “We intentionally chose food banks that maximize donations and turn each dollar into several meals.”

Serving the community is something that remains top of mind for PFMG, particularly in these challenging times. “The people within our communities are the reason behind our success, and they need our support now more than ever,” said Scott. 

So far, the team’s efforts in the Toledo area have helped produce over 11,000 meals for residents in need. PFMG plans to continue this program until its clubs can serve pizza again and are planning to implement the program in its Michigan clubs once they reopen. The team looks forward to feeding members of the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Flint/Saginaw communities, and even more members of the Toledo community.