Organization raises funds for Feed Nova Scotia through physical activity

Push ups to fight food insecurity Maritimers tested their stamina to fight food insecurity through Pushup4Charity.

Pushup4charity is a new organization started by a group of four friends who decided to combine physical activity and fundraising for charities around Nova Scotia.

“We went to the gym together on a regular basis and so we like chest day the most so we figured why not start doing pushups and see if people donate money,” said James Dixon, Pushup4charity founder.

Since June, the group along with its volunteers have been raising money for Feed Nova Scotia.

“Every dollar that is donated to Feed Nova Scotia we do a push,” said Dixon.

With the housing crisis and growing food insecurity in the province, the team decided to support the food bank with a goal of raising $15,000.

“It’s 22,500 meals. We know the impact of what happens when you someone who’s insecure just getting one meal,” said Feed Nova Scotia Director, Nick Jennery.

The level of community engagement is inspiring said Jennery. “This is about getting down and doing some really hard physical work which just adds, you know, a bit of character to the whole thing.”

So far the group has raised $8,000 over the course of the summer. “Which means we’ve done 8,000 pushups which is just wild in retrospect,” said Travis Newcombe, Pushup4charity volunteer.

The group plans to continue fundraising on Sept. 9 with a bigger goal in mind. “We are going to try and raise $1,000 for Feed Nova Scotia in a day which means we’re going to try to do 1,000 pushups in a day!” exclaimed Newcombe.

The Push4charity team will be at the Halifax waterfront 11 a.m. to begin that fundraiser.

It is a small but mighty group making change one pushup at a time.

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