While most people were busy cooking their turkeys and making final preparations for Thanksgiving, Erin and Jim Naatz, owners of Sussex’s Fitness Revolution, were preparing for a different kind of gathering. 

Each year the fitness center holds its Annual Turkey Day Boot Camp Workout, a fundraiser for Sussex-Area Outreach Services in honor of Thanksgiving. This year over 60 people registered in the first 24 hours prompting Naatz to add additional classes.

“We had just under 90 people participate this year,” Naatz said. 

However, rather than accepting cash or non-perishable food items to benefit the pantry, Fitness Revolution asked for grocery store gift cards. Naatz said her business raised $1,000 in area gift cards that will not only benefit Outreach Services, but also the local grocery stores.

And the boot camp-style gym is no stranger to Sussex fundraisers. The business is slated to hold their Second Annual Woodside Elementary Fundraiser throughout the month of Dec. to give people a head start on New Year’s resolutions.

“We ran this fundraiser last year in December, and it did very well,” Naatz said. “We raised over $1,200.”

The fundraiser offers four weeks of workouts three times per week at $39, and then donates 50 percent of the proceeds to Woodside’s Home & School sponsored by their Night’s Out Committee.

Fitness Revolution specializes in boot camp workouts for men and women, and it's geared more toward a group personal training session.