When Jesse Bruce, a trainer at Toronto gym One Academy, heard that rates of domestic abuse against women could rise during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the increased isolation people are facing, he knew he needed to find a way to help his community. “We wanted to show our support, and we wanted people to know we cared about them, and that we were thinking about them at this time,” says Jesse. “We also wanted to bring our community together and provide some comfort and hope and strength to everyone.”

Coming from a difficult background himself, Jesse says that he really resonated with the  women who come to Nellie’s, and all women impacted by abuse, trauma and homelessness, because “I’ve been in that same spot of not knowing where to go, and being in a dark place. “I’ve struggled with my own past and battled my own demons, and I’m 9 years sober this August,” says Jesse. “Fitness became part of my life and it changed my life.”

To combine his passion for fitness and his drive to help the women of Nellie’s, Jesse organized a virtual online workout class, where everyone who participated had to donate a minimum of $5 to join. Jesse went into the gym by himself on a Saturday in May to teach the class, and much to his amazement, hundreds of people joined from all over the world, including from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and all over Canada. Many were friends of the gym’s members. Overall, the event raised a total of more than $8,000.

The class was One Academy’s signature class called Everest: at the gym they say that if you can conquer that class, you can conquer Everest. Jesse decided to hold the event in May in honour of Mother’s Day, as an added connection to Nellie’s.

As a way to kickstart sign-ups for the class and raise further awareness for Nellie’s, Jesse also ran an additional fundraiser: he pledged to run and bike 1km up to an IronMan distance (180 km bike and 42.2km run) for every person who signed up. His initiative worked, and enough people signed up that he ended up doing the entire run and bike! He first completed the biking portion on his indoor trainer in his living room, and then he went outside to run the full marathon distance. The entire workout took him a little more than 8 hours, and he raised over $1,500 just on that one day.

Jesse is so proud of his One Academy family and how they joined him in coming out to support Nellie’s. “Giving back is something we do, we do it together and I think everyone can empathize with Nellie’s and the women and children that are there,” says Jesse. “I think it hits home for a lot of people. It was already a dark and scary time and I can only imagine what some of the women had to deal with.”

 Thank you, Jesse and everyone at One Academy! Your generosity and passion means so much to the women and their children who come to Nellie’s.