Derek Does 270,000 Push-Ups to Raise Money for Kids With Cancer Foundation

Derek Eyler (center) and friends raise money for pediatric oncology research in a unique way.

Derek Eyler is one of those rare individuals who loves to do push-ups. He’s not in the Army nor is he a fitness fanatic. But he does like a good challenge.

In 2010, Derek challenged himself with a New Year’s resolution to do 100,000 push-ups in a year.

He did it.

The next year, his brother and some friends joined in, and Derek stepped up his goal to 200,000. In his own words, “There was a point that year when someone pointed out the fact that with all these push-ups we were doing, why not make it count for a charity or a good cause?”

So Derek did just that.

On March 15, 2012, Derek initiated his year-long fundraiser called “Push for Change” to do 270,000 push-ups and raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research. His company, Towers Watson, is a long time supporter of St. Baldrick’s, so it was a natural choice for his charity. And as the father of two young children, his heart goes out to the parents and families of children with cancer.

Derek did push-ups every day. Every day. By the end of the year, he had worked up to doing 750 of them, breaking them up in sets of 150 several times a day. His personal record was 2,500 in one hour!

Derek gets some help on his 200,000th push up.

He used social media and email to tell his family and friends about Push for Change and ask for their support. Derek raised $1,023 at the end of his fundraising year…just by doing push-ups.

It was a simple idea anyone could do anywhere! Thirty-two other brave souls signed up for his event. He encouraged them to set a push-up goal (he recommended 25,000) as well as a fundraising goal for the year. Together they logged 685,543 push-ups in one year and raised $2,140 for kids with cancer!

Derek says if he does it again, he’d set a shorter time frame for the event like a week or a month. He’d also start it around January just when people might be setting New Year’s resolutions to get fit just like he did. And he’d like to see the event grow bigger with more participants.

Of course, you don’t need to do push-ups to raise money for St. Baldrick’s. You can do what you want.

What will you do to raise money for childhood cancer research?