‘Zumbathon’ helps fight veteran suicide

ALBANY — Kimberla Hitch and other local Zumba instructors led 50 people in a two-hourlong “Zumbathon” recently to raise money for the nonprofit organization Active Heroes.

The marathon was held at Live Oak Elementary School in Albany and featured Rob Powell, a Zumba instructor from Charleston, S.C.

The event raised $560, which went to the Active Heroes organization. The mission of Active Heroes is to “support all U.S. military service members, veterans and their families through physical, educational, and emotional programs in an effort to eliminate suicide” according to the organization’s website. The group’s goal is to eliminate military and veteran suicide. Approximately 22 veterans commit suicide every day.

A veteran himself, Powell said the cause was especially important to him.

“I have had a friend who committed suicide due to the effects of PTSD,” the instructor said. “He had undiagnosed PTSD and took his own life without anyone knowing there was an issue in the first place.”

Powell was introduced to Zumba, a Latin American-inspired dance class, back in 2009 while living in Germany.

“I tore my Achilles tendon,” he said. “For six months, I couldn’t walk, and I gained a lot of weight. When I could walk again, and I was rehabbing my injury, I was trying to find ways to burn the weight off. I went to the gym, I did cardio, I went running, I did the bike, the elliptical, the treadmill. All of it was boring. Finally, a few of my coworkers said, ‘Hey come to the Zumba class. Rob you like to dance, come to the Zumba class.’ Finally they cornered me and made me come, and I went to the class. I loved it.”

When he moved back to the United States, Powell decided to become a Zumba instructor himself.

“That same joy that I felt in that class,” Powell said, “that same exercise in disguise that I had, I wanted to bring that to other people. So I became an instructor myself.”

But it wasn’t until 2015 that Powell discovered the Active Heroes organization and combined his love for Zumba with his passion for educating people about PTSD.

“I was introduced to this charity three years ago by another Zumba instructor whose husband was an active-duty soldier and had committed suicide,” Powell said. “She found Active Heroes. She invited me to come to her second event that she held back in 2015, and once I saw what the charity was about and that it felt different than other charity events that I’d been to, I decided I wanted to have an event of my own. I brought it to Charleston and from there, it’s grown.”

Powell has attended and led Zumbathons for Active Heroes all around the country. The event in Albany made 18 events that he has been a part of.

Powell received the Zumba Inspiration of the Year at the national Zumba instructor convention last year for his work with Active Heroes and for bringing awareness about PTSD and veteran suicide. Around 7,000 Zumba instructors attend the convention every year, and the national exposure helped to grow the Zumbathon for Active Heroes program even more. Powell has volunteered for all of the events he has been a part of and even paid his own travel expenses.

“As part of our award,” Powell said, “Zumba fitness has committed to educating other Zumba instructors around the world about suicide prevention and then helping us fund our travel across the country to continue to have these events.”

Albany instructor Hitch heard about the Zumbathon for Active Heroes events and Powell at the national convention and approached him about doing an event in Albany.

“After hearing his story of his good friend who committed suicide, I felt that Albany could benefit from this information as well,” Hitch said. “Being that we have a military base here in Albany, I’m sure others have similar stories. There are a large number of veterans here that could use the support of Active Heroes and may have never heard of this organization. This was also a teaching moment for my family and friends of veterans to show us how we can be their support.”

Hitch said when she learned about the number of veterans who commit suicide every day it devastated her. And because she knew that organizations supporting veterans are often underfunded, she wanted to raise money herself for Active Heroes and spread awareness about the organization.

“It’s all about spreading awareness so that those in need will have a safe and confidential place to heal,” she said.

The event also featured a pushup challenge that started at 22 to represent the number of veterans who commit suicide every day, and counted down to zero.

“Zero is the number of suicides that we and Active Heroes are striving for when it comes to veteran suicide,” Hitch said.

Active Heroes is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity, and donations can be made at Active Heroes.org.