Burpees for Breast Cancer

On Saturday, October 25, eighteen women walked into Heart to Heart gym with one thing on their mind – do any many burpees as they possibly can in one hour to help yet another sister who is fighting cancer. These women took part in the Heart to Heart "WOW" (Women of Worth) Burpees for Breast Cancer or as many dubbed it – Burpees for Boobies.

Laura Rhodes Tarbell, creator the WOW workout program, and her team wanted to do something for October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to start giving back to the community of Akwesasne in some way. Originally created as the Women Only Workout, it soon turned into Women of Worth and a lifestyle transformation. Tarbell explained how, "Worth in the sense that you believe you are worthy of living your dream, worth in the sense you believe you are worthy of cleansing your mind of negative thoughts and your life of negative people, worth in the sense that you are worthy of clearing your schedule of things that don't serve your purpose and you get closer to your goals".

Lifestyles that are healthier, happier and more worthy of what women desire in life, for instance turning each workout into an opportunity rather than a chore and hosting Burpees for Boobies was the perfect channel. Each woman, whether they belong to Women of Worth, Physical Limits, or to the Caveman Strong gym, focused their combined energy to help someone. It was the perfect starting point of giving back and doing so in a personal way. For Sandi Barnes it was very personal. For every strenuous and sweat drenching burpee she completed the thought of helping her mom and how hard her mom has to fight to kick cancer ran through her mind. She and her friends, family and people she had never met before turned this workout into an opportunity to make a difference.

The Burpees for Boobies raised over $1300.00 in just one hour from pledges and cash donations from four teams. Burpee for Boobies teams all started promptly at 8:00am with one teammate completing as many burpees as possible in one minute then handing the task over to a fellow teammate. A "burpee" starts standing upright and immediately moving into a push-up, then standing and jumping into a jumping jack. Teammates were doing various combinations of the burpees from omitting the push up to adding a clap when doing the pushup. Whatever kind of burpee each participant did, it was completed with positive energy and with the sole intention of helping someone. There is still time to donate to "Burpees for Boobies" for Donna Benedict by dropping donations off the Heart to Heart front desk, or you can leave money in an envelope at Laura Tarbell's office. Tarbell and the "WOW" team plans to hold this as an annual October Breast Cancer Awareness event and the money raised will be kept local and given to an Akwesasne community member. You can look forward to other events organized and sponsored by "Women of Worth" throughout the year as a way to give back to the community. Given the energy and spirit of every woman who participated, these events serve a multitude of purposes: giving back, helping out, and feeling great.