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Fitness Elite owner Kristen Pappalardo. PHOTO Courtesy of the Fitness Elite
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Fitness Elite’s Fit Elite Movement fourth annual fundraiser raised $ 3,053.40 for Steps Together.PHOTO COURTESY OF FITNESS ELITE this year
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Fitness Elite owner Kristen Pappalardo. PHOTO Courtesy of the Fitness Elite
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Fitness Elite’s Fit Elite Movement fourth annual fundraiser raised $ 3,053.40 for Steps Together.PHOTO COURTESY OF FITNESS ELITE this year
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Fitness Elite owner Kristen Pappalardo was saddened that her gym was unable to run the annual Fit Love Movement campaign due to COVID-19 over the past year.
The Hillsborough-based gym had run its fundraiser for the past three years, raising over $ 2,000 each time through its love of fitness to help people with serious medical conditions in the Somerset County area and their families with reimbursement of medical expenses to help.
With the opportunity to run the event this year, Pappalardo and her five trainers have made every effort to run the fourth annual Fit Love movement challenge and raise funds for a local organization called Steps Together that supports families in the area who are in a medical crisis.
“The Fit Love movement is my favorite time of year,” said Pappalardo. “It’s something that makes our gym very passionate.”
The Fit Love movement was a month long, fundraising and betting event that started on February 20 and lasted until March 20, when Pappalardo held a core game contest between five of their trainers at the gym: Shannon Kelly, Deandre Hopes, Sandre Grant, Sammie Berrios and Michelle Macauley.
Each trainer completed a round of eight functional exercises – a quarter mile running quarter sprint, 10 renegade burpees with dumbbells, 20-yard slide army crawl, 20 TRX pull-ups, ball slam glove, 20 push-ups, firefighter stretcher with a 45 pound bag and a half mile wind sprint on an Airdyne attack bike – for the best overall time outside of the group.
Everyone from clients in the gym to people in the community was betting on which trainer they think would win the competition, and all of the money went to Steps Together.
Pappalardo used the gym’s social media platforms to promote the event throughout the month and also showed videos of each coach workout for the challenge.
“The coaches were very excited,” said Pappalardo. “They put so much pressure into doing this for all of the people who supported them and for Steps Together.”
On the coming day of the competition, trainer Shannon Kelly took first place on the ranking list.
In the final tally of this year’s Fit Love movement, Pappalardo and her crew surpassed their $ 3,000 goal for a total of $ 3,053.40.
It’s the most money the event has ever raised, said Pappalardo, who added that many local businesses have donated money to the cause this year, including F2B Services LLC, David Alex Films, Fancy Nails and Spa, Lenny’s Pizza, and Pasta, Mailbox Business Center, Magyar Bank and Tender Lovin ‘Grill.
The success of this year’s Fit Love movement would not be possible without the help of Elsa Jimenez, who, according to Pappalardo, is “the wind behind the Fit Love movement”.
Pappalardo said she was in the process of speaking to her brothers and working with other companies to make the event a “real” and “bigger” business than it is now.
A firm believer in how fitness can help people improve in a variety of ways, Pappalardo wants to use the same energy to lift people’s spirits during difficult times.
“Fitness serves a bigger purpose than just exercising your muscles,” said Pappalardo. “We want to share this spirit of fitness that helps us improve with others in order to improve their mood.”