ROSWELL, Ga. — Thanks to a donation from the Roswell Orangetheory Fitness, every police and fire station in Roswell is getting new fitness equipment.
"It's a high stress environment, a high stress job," said Deputy fire chief Shane Dobson. “Physical exercise gives us an outlet for that stress, and it's something that's important to us, too. There's not enough importance that could be put on the physical aspect of this job. But as far as like a large commercial treadmill, we don't typically have that kind of equipment.”
Julie Santana owns the Roswell Orangetheory Fitness studio. She organized the donation Thursday.
“We reached out to them and we found out that they were going through a huge quest to have all of their sort of health equipment updated and that they really wanted treadmills, but it wasn't in their budget," said Santana.
Her team went the extra mile, donating 10 treadmills to Roswell police and fire.
“Cardiovascular health is extremely important, not only for everyday person, but especially for your first responders," said Major Kyle Ratliff with Roswell Police.
“Our equipment now is actually very limited," said Ratliff. "We do have some very basic dumbbells and that kind of stuff, but we really don't have any treadmills or running equipment, especially not up to today's standards."
City councilmember Lee Hills said they just haven’t had the budget to update the first responders’ gyms.
"We weren't budgeted for this sort of thing, and it was a need that had been talked about and it was fulfilled by a community member," said Hills.
Ratliff said the department is thankful for the donation.
“With taxpayers dollars, we have to prioritize our response," said Ratliff. "From a first responder standpoint, our primary focus is always the community. So a lot of times these items, while we want them, we just don't have the funding. Having a local business that stands behind its first responders and willing to step out and openly display that support, it's just awesome."