ROANOKE, Va. – A friendly bench press competition at Gold’s Gym helped raise money for the nonprofit Healing Strides.
Healing Strides does a lot to help people across the region, especially veterans. The nonprofit organization uses equestrian therapy to help veterans, especially those experiencing effects of PTSD.
J. Boudreaux, General Manager of Gold’s Gym, is a veteran himself. He wanted to help out Healing Strides because of all the hard work they do.
“I’m a vet myself for two branches of the service. A bunch of my family are veterans. I have some good friends that are veterans. And the work that they do out there is unparallel,” Boudreaux said.
Men and women participated in the bench press competition. Many of the participants lifted over 200 lbs. of weights and some even went over 400 lbs.
The energy filled the gym as people cheered on their fellow gym mates and partners. Boudreaux has really made an effort to make the gym a friendly environment and another place to meet new friends.
Boudreaux believes Veterans are often forgotten about and especially those fighting mental struggles on a daily basis by themselves. He says organizations like Healing Strides are starting to recognize and help veterans with their struggles.
“There’s more light being brought to ways that you can deal with the effects of PTSD and all the stuff you went through as a soldier, as a sailor. And this is just something we have in our community to help get those people through,” Boudreaux said.
Cathleen Bedrosian and Kassidy Earehart from Healing Strides were there to watch the competition unfold.
“Gratitude is a good word. We are very grateful for the connections and the partnerships we have,” Earehart said.
Overall the competition was able to raise more than $1,000 to help Healing Strides.