Our First Annual Burpees for Turkeys at WILCOX Brunswick a Huge Success!

From Left to Right: 
​JD Samson, trainer at WILCOX, Brunswick
Monique Breault, client and event volunteer
Allison Hopkins, Local Owner, Wilcox Wellness & Fitness, Brunswick
​Ethan Minton, Good Shepherd Food Bank

On Saturday, November 16th members of the Wilcox Wellness & Fitness, Brunswick community came together for our first annual Burpees for Turkeys event.
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Burpees for Turkeys is a fund raiser event to benefit Good Shepherd Food Bank.  This event started at Wilcox Wellness & Fitness in Bangor in 2015, and in the first four years has raised nearly $30,000 to help the Good Shepherd Food Bank in their fight against food insecurity in Maine.

​The first Burpees for Turkeys at this location was a huge success, raising $3,145 for Good Shepherd Food Bank.  Collectively, the Brunswick & Bangor locations raised a total of $10,354!

One in Five Children in Maine live with food insecurity, meaning that they lack the necessary nutrition to live a healthy life style.

This is such a devastating statistic and I'm proud of the impact that we as a community were able to make through this event.

Food insecurity is a serious issue even here in our local community of Greater Brunswick.  The signs of hunger can easily go unnoticed, and we often don't realize who is impacted.  Hunger impacts people of all kinds.  A financial crisis brought on by a medical issue, lost job, or divorce can result in food insecurity even for families that you would least expect.  

The evidence of hunger is most obvious to those who work directly to provide food within the local community, or people who work in roles such as teachers, coaches, and counselors.  When you talk with people in these kinds of roles in our local community you will realize that hunger is real.

I'm impressed by the work of the Good Shepherd Food Bank and their efforts to fight against hunger across Maine.  Their goal to end hunger in Maine by 2025 is an impressive one.  Good Shepherd vision is to make food available to anyone who needs it through a variety of programs that they provide.

Participants warm up in preparation for 629 burpees!

Ready. Set. Go. Clients move through the burpee stations with family and friends cheering them on and helping to keep count.

I'm proud of the impact that we were able to make this past weekend, and am honored to support Good Shepherd Food Bank in the work that they do.
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Members of the WILCOX community came together to help raise money for the cause.  For every $5 raised participants pledged to do one burpee.  As a community here in Brunswick we did 629 burpees and had a ton of fun!

What is incredible is that of the $3,145 raised, $1,720 came in the form of cash donations to the trainer team by members of the WILCOX community!  The remaining total came from participants who did additional fund raising.  

​I was so impressed by how everyone came together to support the fund raising effort.  The moral support provided by clients leading up to the event was overwhelming.  Several clients joined us on Saturday to cheer us on and make last minute donations to support Good Shepherd Food Bank.

JD Samson, Personal Trainer at WILCOX, and Allison Hopkins, WILCOX Brunswick Local Owner show off their burpees tallies.

Ashley Severy was awarded the top fundraiser prize of products donated by local businesses.  Ashley raised $550 and did 110 to help end hunger in Maine!

Good Shepherd Food Bank is able to leverage the money that we raised to do the most good.  For every burpee that we did on Saturday the Good Shepherd Food Bank is able to feed a hungry child in Maine for an entire week!  For every dollar raised they are able to put FOUR meals on the tables of Maine families in need.  

The WILCOX community came together on Saturday for a great cause and as a result helped Good Shepherd Food Bank put 12,580 meals on the tables of Mainers!  ​​

Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to the success of this year's event!  A special thank you goes out to business owners across Bath & Brunswick who made donations to the prize pack that was awarded to our top fund raiser.

Thank you to Morning Glory Natural Foods, Fleet Feet Brunswick, Calm Moments Spa, Casco Bay Kayak, Gulf of Maine Books, Hatch on Maine, Wild Oats Bakery, Kerry Watterson / Emerald Esthetics, Little Dog Coffee, R.E.D.D Bar, and Cool as a Moose.  ​