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Date: 11/13/2019
EAST LONGMEADOW – Century Fitness on North Main Street in East Longmeadow recently hosted a three-day series of events to give back to veterans. From Nov. 4 to Nov. 6, the gym raised money for New England Adventures, a non-profit organization that provides outdoor sporting and therapeutic activities to veterans, service members and their families at no cost.
“I think it’s great anytime a local business can do anything to support our veterans and being able to help our disabled vets makes it extra special. We have Veterans Day to celebrate our vets but when we can celebrate them other days, we want to,” said state Rep. Brian Ashe, who attended the ceremony.
Century Fitness patrons were able to give to New England Adventures in a couple of ways. The gym took straightforward donations to the organization and also donated the suggested class fees.
The events began on Nov. 4 with a flag ceremony in the gym’s lobby. People gathered around as an honor guard from the Disabled American Veterans of Massachusetts presented colors while Larry White sang the national anthem.
“We honor veterans. If it’s the only song I sing well, that’s the one I want to sing,” White said of the anthem.
There were also representatives from the American Legion and the Department of Veteran Affairs on hand to answer questions.
The gym conducted four classes that facilitated donations that day, two aquarobics classes, a Strong 30 Plus class, which is a type of Zumba, and a Zumba Glow Party.
“The Zumba Glow party was a huge success,” said Century Fitness Manager Dan Ingram.
On Nov. 5, the gym advertised a “Major Shake–A–Thon,” in which 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of protein shakes were donated to New England Adventures.
On the final day, Century Fitness hosted a “HIIT Zone-Palooza,” from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, a practice in which participants do quick bursts of different intense workouts one after another. The gym offered a chance to win a four-session personal training package during the last day as an incentive to attend.
Throughout the week, Century Fitness was able to raise about $1,000 for New England Adventures.
“We had a lot of people donate after the event,” if they couldn’t attend, Ingram said.
The fundraiser was Ingram’s idea. The gym has done fundraisers for veterans before and also for other causes, such as for breast cancer awareness. This year, he said, he decided to bring it back to veterans.
“We had people from all different areas – northern Connecticut, Springfield – that didn’t know each other but had all served,” Ingram said. “We made a lot of connections, veteran to veteran but also just had a lot of people come out to thank service members. That was the highlight.”