Terry Fieguth completed 4,080 reps during his challenge. (Photo supplied by the Lethbridge Police Service)

By Justin Goulet

Lethbridge Police officer raises over $8,000 for mental health

Oct 12, 2021 | 10:02 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A local K9 officer smashed his fundraising goal in an effort to raise awareness on mental health.

Lethbridge Police Constable Terry Fieguth challenged himself to do as many pull-ups as he could in a 24-hour period on the Thanksgiving long weekend. His goal was to collect $2,000 for the Legacy Place Society, but as the clock ticked down in his challenge on Sunday, October 10 – which was also World Mental Health Day – more than $8,000 had already been raised for the non-profit society. Legacy Place provides mental health support for first responders. Fieguth said he’s overwhelmed by the support shown during as part of his challenge.

“I’m very happy with the ways things turned out, and believe we truly got out there a lot of awareness and support to everybody that may be struggling.”

Donations are still be accepted until October 17 and can be made here.

The officer said he was thankful for not only the generosity shown by members of the local community, but the words of encouragement he received from friends, family, co-workers and strangers.

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Fieguth commented, “I’ve had people I’d never met in my life reach out through social media and cheer me on, which was pretty cool to see. Just seeing that the message is reaching a huge variety of people, was very cool.”

He said he was able to hear testimonials from first responders who have benefitted from Legacy Place. He also gave a shout-out to his wife Tianna.

“She was with me, side-by-side the entire time. I couldn’t have done what I did without her.”

Fieguth set a goal of doing 100 pull-ups every 10 minutes, with five-minute breaks in between. He started his challenge on Saturday, October 9 at 10 a.m. The plan was to go until 10 a.m. the following day, however, at around 2 a.m., Fieguth’s body told him it was time to stop, and he ended the challenge.

He said, “obviously I would have loved to keep going and pushed through for the entire 24 hours, but the body, it said it finally had enough.” He noted that part of being mentally strong is knowing one’s limits.

“I’m proud I was able to recognize, ‘is a long-term injury worth more than what’s at stake?’”

Following the conclusion of the challenge, Fieguth rewarded himself with a bowl of cereal and said he isn’t ruling out any future challenges, but his immediate plans were to take a few days off.

“At this point, definitely just rest and relaxation. But I’m sure something is going to spark me in the near future and on a whim I’ll probably try and raise some awareness and some funds for some other group as well.”

More details about the Legacy Place Society are available here.