This year marked the 20^th anniversary of Sept. 11, so Taymax wanted to hold a commemoration to honor those who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center buildings. Three of the group’s clubs in Ontario, Canada, held stair-climbing events to raise money for the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Fund. Many people came out to the PF^® clubs to complete stair climbs on the step machines to pay their respects. The event lasted 20 hours – one hour for every year since Sept. 11, 2001.

The day began at 4 a.m. when six firefighters in full gear came in to climb 110 floors – 110 being the number of floors in the World Trade Center buildings. At 8:46 a.m., the Lunk Alarm was sounded to signal a moment of silence to remember the moment the first plane hit the Trade Center. Following the moment of silence, a firetruck pulled up to the club. The truck stayed for the rest of the day, and the department held a boot drive to raise money, too.

There were members who completed the climb, and then at 10 a.m., members of the PF^® staff jumped in and participated in the stair climbing. A group of six schoolteachers came in at 11 a.m. to do the climb, and another group of firefighters in full gear came in at noon, followed by their wives at 1 p.m. Members continued to climb through the evening. General Manager Kimberly Traill was the last one to complete the climb, and she ended just before midnight.

For each person who completed the 110-floor climb, $9.11 was donated to the fund. (And $20 was donated in addition to the $9.11 for each firefighter who climbed in full gear.) In the end, 176 participants from across the three Taymax locations and 34 firefighters in full gear took part. In total, there were 19,360 floors climbed, which equals about 308,880 steps. The donation in the end was rounded up to $3,000. The next day, the president of the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Fund came to the club and was presented with the check of the money raised. Some of the firefighters returned as well, contributing the nearly $1,000 they had raised.