Veteran raising awareness about childhood hunger, bullying with 1,000 pushups a day at NHRA US Nationals
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A U.S. Army veteran is on a mission to help spread awareness about child hunger and bullying.
Patrick Parker, also known as Sgt. Pushup, travels the country to help provide meals for children in need and raise awareness about bullying. So far, Parker has fed over 640,000 meals to children across the country.
News 8’s Amicia Ramsey joined Parker on Labor Day as he set up a mini boot camp at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the NHRA U.S. Nationals.
“We have children across this great nation that’s not eating every day. We have children that’s attempting suicide every day. So I wanted to stop and I wanted to make a difference. It’s not about what I did in the past, it’s not about me being a desert storm. It’s about every day — how am I making America better?” Parker said.
Parker challenged himself to do 1,000 pushups on each day of the four-day drag racing event, making it a total of 4,000 pushups. On Monday, the last day of the event, he said he had 1,100 pushups left toward meeting his goal.
“President Kennedy said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.’ So, I want to do something for everyone else’s child. I don’t have any children, so I have 75 million children. Every child across America,” Parker said. “I’m gonna do everything I can to help children across this great nation.”
Parker is also drawing attention to September being National Suicide Prevention Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 14.
The CDC also says that bullied youth are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school.
Parker says that as a child, he was bullied, and he is inspired to do the pushups challenge for kids who may feel like they don’t have a voice to advocate for themselves.