Has anyone tried to have parents donate old fitness equipment to be used for high school classes? I would like to ask for old treadmills and elliptical machines that are not being used, but I was curious on how well it would be received by the community. I know there has to be some equipment sitting in basements with clothes hanging on it not being used.

James,

I have looked into old or used fitness equipment for our fitness center at my elementary school. It seems like an easy and inexpensive way to enrich your students experience.

Unfortunately there are a ton of road blocks to doing so. Below are some of the point my athletic director and I discussed when doing so.

1) Receiving free (donated) equipment needs to be approved by the business office for tax purposes.
2) Equipment must be inspected by qualified professional, very expensive
3) liability of equipment. If someone were to get hurt using the equipment, there would need to be documentation of inspections, upkeep, etc

I found it was much easier to request funds from our parent association. If you can validate the equipment and its purpose, usually they are willing to purchase it for you.

Also, the American Heart Association will donate US Games gift certificates to your school if you participate in "Jump Rope for Heart"


Hope this helps

Matt

The most success we have had has been with gyms in our area. Gyms are updating their equipment to keep up with the latest trends. I do not know if you will get things for free but at a huge discount. We purchased an entire set of Les Mills Body Pump weights. It included 40 sets of barbells and all the weights. I think we spent $500. Now I can have 30 students following a video workout using very good used equipment. I can join in as well. Remember that big items will need serviced at some point and only one student can use it.