While quarantine might have made exercising harder with nationwide shutdowns of gyms, others made the most of the situation and took activities outdoors. Marquette men’s basketball head coach Steve Wojciechowski did just that.
Wojciechowski participated in the Calendar Club Challenge back in May, where he went on a 31-mile bike ride, 6.2-mile run, or a 15.5-mile ride and 3.1-mile run on each day of the month. He did so to raise money for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, which provides food to individuals and families facing hunger through outreach programs.
With the pandemic putting more people at risk of going hungry, Wojciechowski and his family thought there was not a better time to help raise money for the organization.
“First of all we believe it’s a great cause,” Wojciechowski said. “Given the circumstances that we’re all living in, and with so many people struggling, even more now than ever, we felt like it was the best time to try to make an impact on an organization that would help people who need it the most.”
The former Duke point guard took to Instagram and vowed that his wife and him would donate $100 to Feeding America for anybody who decided to take on the challenge, up to $5,000.
By the end of it all, Wojciechowski and his network were able to help Feeding America provide $50,000 in groceries to local families.
Despite a biking quota of 961 miles, a running quota of 192.2 miles or a combination of the two stretching 576.6 miles, Wojciechowski was able to stay motivated throughout the entire course of the challenge.
“When you’re doing something that’s not about you, it’s about something bigger than you, it’s easier to be motivated,” Wojciechowski said. “Obviously I benefitted from the exercise, but more importantly, the people who benefitted the most were the people who were going to get the meals that we were able to provide to Feeding America.”
While not everybody has to do a month-long challenge that is physically taxing, Wojciechowski said that there is a way for everybody to help better the community through service.
“If you have something that is on your mind and (you’re) trying to figure out ways to help, there’s all sorts of different organizations that can use your help,” Wojciechowski said. “Organizations across our city, county and state are in dire need of people volunteering, of donations, of help.”
This story was written by Nick Galle. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @thenickgalle.
