Danny hands over 18 portals to care homes

Danny Glenn, of UTurn Fitness, raised over £3,500 to purchase the electronic devices which were donated to 13 local care homes.

The personal trainer decided to get involved after hearing how difficult it was for one of his gym members to keep in contact with his parents, who both reside in a care home.

“The whole idea came from the man behind Pure Derry, Ciaran Murray, as his parents are both in a care home. I had more free time on my hands as all of our classes have moved online, so I offered to take on the fundraising appeal.

“To date we have raised over £3,500 and a total of 18 portals have been donated to care homes. We did a bonus ball with the prize of a 12 week transformation and some supplements. The numbers sold out in the first day or so and we decided to do another one.

“We also asked people who train with us and businesses training with us if they would like to make a donation.”

Danny explained that UTurn Fitness set up a healthy business class during the lockdown and local energy company Click Energy signed up.

“They very kindly donated £500. We have done tons of fundraisers over the years and in Derry it is always the same, no matter what is going on there is always people and local companies willing to help and donate.”

Danny said that the care homes who contacted him to ask for a portal said that helping family members stay in touch during lockdown had been an issue.

“A lot of the staff in care homes had been giving their phone out so families can make video calls to residents. If they haven’t seen their family in eight or ten weeks, looking through the screen of a mobile phone just wasn’t right. Every care home we gave one to said it was going to be a great help and that it would take the pressure off the staff. We donated two portals to some of the care homes with more residents and explained how to set them up.”

Danny said he was happy to be able to get involved, but now that he is returning to work taking small groups for training outdoors he would like to see someone else continue the fundraising to donate more portals.

“I am really proud I was able to contribute and make life easier for people. Because I had more time on my hands and the gym has a large following on social media, I thought it was only the right thing to do. It also gave me something to focus on.”