By Heart of Illinois ABC
BLOOMINGTON – For one Bloomington man being a personal trainer does not just stop at caring about his clients’ physical health.
Jared Gahm started Legacy Fitness to help anyone looking to get into shape but his passion lies in training some for the men and women who serve our country.
“My responsibility as a coach is to make sure they’re doing everything right once they join the military and then they’re deployed overseas I still have a responsibility as a coach. I still want to see these guys succeed, I want to see these guys get taken care of,” he said.
Three years ago Gahm started sending care packages to the soldiers he had trained before they were deployed overseas.
“Thanksgiving is hard, Christmas time is even harder for them,” he said.
“So if they can have a huge box that not only goes to my guys that I coach, they’re all good dudes, they’re also going to give it to the other guys that are in their platoon.”
The boxes include items like chips, decks of cards and foot powder—everyday items that are stocked on the shelves here at home. Gahm says each one, whether its candy to keep their blood sugar up to athletic tape for when they roll an ankle, is a rare commodity for soldiers.
“These guys in the middle of the desert in the middle of a war zone they don’t have that luxury,” he explained. “The little simple things that we take for granted they don’t have so I try to get that every year to them.”
Since he began doing this Gahm has seen an increase in local support from members of the community and local businesses.
“For me knowing that small businesses want to help a small town like Bloomington and their soldiers that means a lot and that shows that there are good people in this town that are also going to help the soldiers overseas that are from this area. I’m just the middle man putting it together,” he said.
Gahm is accepting donations until he ships the boxes on Dec. 10. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Facebook at @JaredGtraining.
Items that can be donated include:
- Socks
- Flavored water packets
- Foot powder
- Body wash
- Toothpaste
- Beef Jerky
- Coffee
- Tuna packets
- Wheat thins
- Pringle’s
- Gum
- Sunflower seeds
- Athletic tape
- Movies on a flash drive
- Board games
- Deck of cards
