Main aim of the charity

Pull-up Bars for Patriots mission is to establish permanent memorials by raising sets of pull-up bars to honor fallen service members while encouraging physical fitness in communities across the United States.

How the employee got involved and why

I have never been Mr. Fitness or the star athlete. Like most, when I was in grade school, I wasn’t a fan of jumping up to the pull-up bar and would make excuses why I couldn’t do pull-ups. Then in high school I joined the United States Marine Corps and was, let’s say, encouraged to do pull-ups. The more I did, the better I became and the more confidence I gained. After my four years in the Marines, I met my wife and we had a son. I would take him to many different parks and there would never be a pull-up bar for adults. I began to think, what if a pull-up bar was established for a fallen service member? When I found out my wife’s friend’s cousin, Marine Corps LCpl. Nick Larson, died in Iraq in 2004, I had more than an idea, I had someone to personally do it for and Pull-up Bars for Patriots was born.

What work does the employee do for charity?

While I created and founded the organization itself, my largest role is sharing the mission of honoring fallen service members through my participation in community and veteran's events with our portable pull-up bar. During these events I encourage everyone and anyone to do a few pull-ups for the hometown hero even when they think they can't. This helps build confidence in the individual and promotes physical fitness. This past year we established the inaugural pull-up bar memorial and had a Dedication-Celebration which even included the delivery of the ceremonial ribbon cutting scissors during the event by DHL. Currently I am in the planning stages with multiple other cities to establish memorials in 2020.

What impact would winning have on the charity?

Winning would allow Pull-up Bars for Patriots to establish additional pull-up bar memorials and would provide funding to develop the Pull-up Bars for Patriots App. The App is going to make the pull-up bar memorial truly interactive. The goal is to have the App track the number of pull-ups completed at each memorial while also giving the biography of the service member the memorial honors. Visitors will be able to see other pull-up bar memorial locations.

What impact would winning have on the employee?

Winning would be a great honor. It would afford me the opportunity to place that honor onto the families of the fallen and to make sure the sacrifice of their loved one is never forgotten.

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