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.