by Zenia Frendt
Resource Development Executive
Last Saturday, 24 Hour Fitness proved that it is committed to helping the community create healthier behaviors by hosting a hugely successful 5K event! The hard working team at 24 Hour Fitness recruited not only employees, but also club patrons to participate! At the end of the day their persistence paid off and they surpassed their $1,000 goal–ultimately raising over $1,100 to help change the odds for kids and families in our community.
Using United Way of Salt Lake’s TeamRaiser software (which enabled them to create a webpage about the event as well as a registration page where they could create and join teams), 24 Hour Fitness began a competition between their seven Salt Lake area clubs to see who could sign up the most people. Employees, club patrons, friends, and family could all register through the TeamRaiser webpage and each club manager made certain that the event was heavily advertised through posters, flyers, Facebook pages, and word of mouth. The result? Over 70 people registered and came out for this first time 5K event! The club winner? The West Jordan location – which doubled its goal and signed up over 20 runners!
24 Hour Fitness also worked to secure sponsors for the run. Salt Lake Community College offered their beautiful campus as a run site, as well as barricades and a P.A. system. GNC came out with official race flags, samples of their products, and prizes for the winners. The assistance and energy of these sponsors went a long way towards making the race not only fun, but more official. Einstein Bros. donated over 100 bagels, and the 24 Hour Team Leader, Melissa Cox, pitched in her own money to purchase oranges and bananas for the runners.
From the warm-up led by cub trainers, to the give-away packed finale, the entire event turned out to be a fun—and healthy—time for all! Everybody involved was proud of their personal running times AND of contributing to United Way of Salt Lake’s efforts to improve healthy behaviors in our community.
This day was a very real example of what can be accomplished when non-profits, businesses, and each one of us work together for change. That is what it means to LIVE UNITED!
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Thank you, 24 Hour Fitness!!
