Military organization comes to area for ‘Drop and Give Me 10’ challenge

Americans across the country are joining in on a push-up challenge that is being tracked, tagged, tweeted and posted with #DropAndGiveMe10.  Celebrities, active military, veterans and everyday citizens are taking videos of them doing push-ups and nominating more people to do the same.

As an effort to spread awareness and raise money for Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, whose mission is to provide college scholarships and educational counseling to military children who have lost a parent while serving our country, the #DropAndGiveMe10 challenge honors the fallen by encouraging us all to take care of those who survived them.

Participants in the challenge film a video of themselves doing pushups in honor of our fallen patriots.  For each successful pushup, they donate $2, $5 or $10 (or any amount) to Children of Fallen Patriots and then challenge three more people to do the same. The campaign has raised tens of thousands of dollars so far, making the estimated $500 million cost of college education for the 20,000 surviving children of fallen patriots smaller and smaller with each pushup.     

The campaign kicked off during Memorial Day Weekend with the face of outdoor adventure, Bear Grylls. He challenged Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, who kept the challenge growing and helped spark a wave of viral participation.

Since Grylls, celebrities like Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Greg Gutfeld, Andy Cohen, Rob Ryan, Drew Brees, the San Diego Chargers and even Vineyard Vines have given 10 for the children of fallen heroes. Many local businesses and individuals are also participating.

As Americans prepare to celebrate independence with barbeques, pool parties and fireworks, the #DropAndGiveMe10 challenge provides the opportunity to get social and give back in recognition of those who gave their lives and in support of the children they left behind.

“It is an honor to have so much support from communities across the nation,” explains John Coogan, Executive Director for Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation. “We can’t thank everyone enough for contributing to this challenge, and we are looking forward to seeing more videos as they are posted. We have built a website in order to host the videos and record the progress for our participants.”  That address is www.DropAndGiveMe10.net. 

Videos are being posted on social media platforms with the hashtag #DropandGiveMe10. Donations can be made online at https://campaign.fallenpatriots.org/DropAndGiveMe10.