ABILENE, TX – Academy Sports + Outdoors in Abilene is donating roughly $3,000 in workout equipment to the Abilene Fire Department for National First Responders Day.
“Every day our guys are responsible for working out and our guys do a very good job of minding their fitness,” says Abilene Fire Chief Cande Flores.
Now the department has two new treadmills from Academy Sports and a couple more on the way.
“We do donations to different people every year and we just pick certain people. This year we decided to do the fire department,” says Aaron Edgar, the store operations manager in Abilene.
Academy Sports reached out to the fire department and asked what needs could they help meet.
“We always have a need for fitness equipment. We did inquire about the possibility of getting a treadmill or two and they said, ‘No problem,’” says Chief Flores.
The donation will help our local firefighters maintain their health requirements.
“Every year we get physically tested. You do have to meet the minimum requirements, which our guys go through every year, and then we have a physical every year,” says Chief Flores.
Chief Flores says since they use the equipment so much it was time for some replacements, but they didn’t know where they would come from.
“It’s expensive and we try to work with the budget, so a gift like this, it’s greatly appreciated,” says Chief Flores.
Officials with Academy say they will be dropping off more equipment throughout the next couple of weeks.
The fire department plans to disperse the equipment to different stations around town.
