New Week, New You: Local group serving community while staying active

SAN ANTONIO – Going outdoors and getting fit, it's how one local nonprofit is serving the community. This month, volunteers with Workout Help Out spent an afternoon outdoors at Hardberger Park.

"The point is to have fun, to give back to the community, to meet new friends, to get volunteer hours for those still in school everyone has different reasons," said Paul Rezai, vice president of the organization. The former personal trainer said he got the idea to start the nonprofit a few years back.

"I was doing personal training and I was looking around the gym looking at these people move things around for no reason so I thought why not take these movements from a gym and apply them to a task," Rezai said.

Beautifying a local park while getting in shape is part of the reason more than 40 people recently helped shovel and wheelbarrow mulch at Hardberger's dog park, including volunteer Summer Johnson.

"To make a difference in the community and in myself, it’s a great opportunity to give back and give in," Johnson said.

Pushups, sit ups, burpees and jumping jacks are just a few workouts incorporated into the activity. "We want them to walk away with having received a really good workout and we want them to walk away with them feeling like they've helped out and get those volunteer hours," Rezai said.

"It’s great to know once I leave here there’s going to be something left behind for other people to enjoy so it’s not just an immediate impact it’s something that's going to last a little while," Johnson said.

The group is currently planning the rest of its summer schedule. Next month, they will be building a ramp for a local disabled homeowner. Click here for information on how to get involved.


About the Authors:

Priscilla Carraman is the producer of the "Know My Neighborhood" series —hyperlocal reporting on different neighborhoods within the KSAT viewing area. Priscilla started at KSAT as a producer trainee in 2017 after graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2015.

A San Antonio native currently in her dream job as the executive producer behind KSAT special programming like Fiesta parades, Dia De Los Muertos and the Rodeo special. When she's not prepping for these productions, she's helping run KSAT's social media channels.