Charlie Cooked and Pushed

This weekend Charlie Cook passed 365 days in a row of doing pushups raising awareness about veteran suicide. Initially, Charlie was just responding to the 22 pushups a day challenge…but something sparked in him, he wanted to do something more so he kept going. Each day doing more and more pushups.

Who the heck is Charlie? He’s a regular dude, he works for a fortune 50 company…and loves his family and life. He’s the kind of guy that wants to support veterans…but he doesn’t want a thing from it…he’s just your friend.

We had Charlie on the Break It Down Show—check him out.

Charlie is that guy who will talk sports or music with you. He loves the Toronto Maple Leafs, Atlanta Braves and Greg Maddux. His boss at times infuriates him...but he just drives on doing his job.

There’s something more to Charlie though…he could have given up his pushup challenge at any time, nobody would have thought less of him. However, he didn’t, he refused to quit.

When regular people want to do something for a cause, it may or may not get done—but Charlie keeps pushing.

By my count he’s past 30,000 pushups and climbing. All because he cares about veterans and has to do something about it. Every now and then someone will take a crack at Charlie, “What’s with all the pushups?”—keeps pushing. “Hey Charlie, do better pushups!”—keep pushing. It’s not about Charlie, he’s pushing to help someone else, someone he doesn’t know. 

22 veterans a day commit suicide. The number 22 is debated, is it more? When we figure in indirect suicide, death from avoidance of problems--those aren’t counted; so yes, it’s more. Is the number less? Sure, 20 seems to be the number right now…but these things don’t matter. The number of veteran deaths from suicide exceeds the American casualties from the Iraq war by 150%.

Each year we lose over 7000 veterans to suicide...if we’re shocked by the number of war casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan…realize we lose more to suicide in 1 year than in the Iraq and Afghan wars combined—scary fact, included in those war deaths are the suicides that service members commit while deployed.

Along the way, Charlie has collected endorsements from a variety of veterans and organizations. The folks at 22kill, Solid Red Concepts, Wounded Warrior, and even Nate Boyer—who is an incredible force for veterans—all keep an eye on the relentless machine that keeps chipping in 100 or so pushups a day. 

Hear Nate Boyer on the Break It Down Show

In celebration of Charlie’s anniversary, I wanted to encourage all of you to chip into Charlie’s cause.

William Negley talks about Sound Off and how they help veterans get well.

Today when he posts his pushups, give him a like…but if you really want to help, SHARE his post. There’s someone out there that’s looking over the edge…and we want that veteran to know, we’ll help.

Charlie the pushup dynamo hasn’t forgotten…he’s been at it for a year, he’ll be at it again tomorrow. That share you post on your feed may be the touch that someone needs. Help save someone today. Make Charlie’s pushups matter. Thank you Charlie every day you impress me and motivate this veteran to dig a bit deeper and keep going. Happy Anniversary.

#podcast #22kill #nateboyer #breakitdownshow #dexter