Scroll down to view the full video.
A special project was presented last month to a high school student chosen by the Make-A-Wish foundation. Instead of asking for a trip to Disneyland or to meet his favorite hero, the recipient wished for his favorite school facility to be improved.
Brought to you by our friends at the Make-A-Wish foundation, Lift Life Foundation, and Bodybuilding.com.
It’s nobody’s fault. Like countless similar facilities nationwide, the weight room in this 230-student small-town school was created with what was available, not what was ideal. The space was a former typing lab from the days of electric typewriters. The squat rack and dip station were fabricated in shop class. The weights themselves had been covered in rust since before the current crop of students were born. And the less said about the condition of the walls, ceiling, and floor, the better.
Image courtesy of the Lift Life Foundation/Bodybuilding.com.
Ask student Jared Anderson about the room, though, and he’ll say, “It was everything to me.” He first set foot there when his brother introduced him to lifting during seventh grade. Then, he began lifting for football and baseball. He even kept lifting when, against the odds, he developed stage-three cancer as a teenager.
Even more unlikely than his illness, though, was what Jared chose to do when he was approached by the Make-a-Wish foundation. “I’ve wanted to fix this place up since I started lifting,” he says.
That’s right; even though Jared was about to graduate, he wanted to use his wish to give back to his school and benefit the 477 people in his home town, many of whom relied on the high school as the closest thing they had to a community center.
Jared anticipated a paint job, maybe a new couple of machines. But Bodybuilding.com’s Lift Life Foundation had other ideas. Watch the video at the bottom of this page for the full inspiring and incredible story.
Image courtesy of the Lift Life Foundation/Bodybuilding.com.
The Lift Life Foundation is on a mission to serve students at underfunded high schools across the U.S. by completely transforming their weight rooms into state-of-the-art facilities with brand-new equipment.
To nominate your school or another that could use a helping hand from the Lift Life Foundation please click here.
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