Learn more about how this organization helps veterans through fitness.
Last updated on October 30th, 2024
One month shy of his 42nd birthday, Chris Coffland decided to join the Army.
- Just three weeks into his first deployment to Afghanistan, he was killed fighting for his country.
His sister, Lynn Coffland, has since created Catch a Lift Fund, a nonprofit organization going into its 15th year of providing fitness, wellness, and support to combat-injured veterans.
Army Cpl. Coffland was a fitness enthusiast and found fitness wherever he was, at home and abroad. He would always end a conversation with the caveat that he was going to “catch a lift” or head to do a workout.
- When he passed, his sister Lynn was his point of contact back in the States, and she received Coffland’s footlockers from Afghanistan, which had workouts etched on a legal pad.
She and a friend of Coffland’s who also served reached out to CrossFit HQ to create a hero workout in Coffland’s honor.
The workout was adapted from those notes on Coffland’s legal pad, and from there, Lynn went on to create the Catch a Lift Fund in honor of her brother.
- “My brother was a huge fitness enthusiast his whole life. He always believed physically, mentally, it changed you. Since [he was] a young boy, he lived by that philosophy,” Lynn told Morning Chalk Up in an interview.
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Origins
It was actually after a walk and heart-to-heart talk with her niece, now Director of Development, Jess Drew, that Coffland set off on her plan to create Catch a Lift.
Lynn wanted to create an organization that helped post-9/11 combat-injured veterans in a way that her brother would have wanted — through nutrition, wellness, and fitness.
Catch a Lift Fund has served over 14,000 veterans nationwide. Their approach to healing is through four core pillars: nutrition, fitness, emotional wellness, and community.
- “We said, ‘Catch a lift.’ We’re going to do it. We’re going to use fitness as a tool to holistic healing for returning combat-injured veterans Post 9/11. And that’s how we started,” Lynn said.
The way that it works is veterans who were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan with a combat-related injury are eligible to apply to the Catch A Lift Wellness Program.
It consists of an eight-week boot camp-style program where they receive one-on-one coaching, mentorship, and accountability.
- “Our veteran members set goals [and] overcome obstacles. As soon as they graduate from the eight weeks (Phase 1), they go into Phase 2, which is where they can choose a grant for either a gym membership, any fitness facility in the U.S., or they can choose individualized home gym equipment,” Lynn said.
Throughout that year, the veterans still have access to all the resources of the Wellness Program. They are also eligible to renew for a second year.
- At any one time, Catch a Lift Fund has six to 800 veterans being served.
The program is so popular that the application submission window had to be closed for the remainder of the year due to costs, not because of coaching or scalability, added Lynn.
Today
Veterans Day is November 11, but Catch A Lift Fund is dedicating the entire month to veterans by asking gyms and patriots to host the Coffland Hero Challenge in their gyms.
The Coffland Hero Challenge is a way for those in the CrossFit community to get involved and raise money for veterans. Gyms and patriots can host the Coffland Hero workout and they receive an entire package from Catch A Lift Fund to help them put on the event.
The Coffland Hero WOD is as follows:
For time:
- 6-minute hang hold (cumulative)
Each time you drop from the bar, perform:
- 800-meter run
- 30 push-ups
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It appeared on CrossFit’s main site as the workout of the day on Monday, November 13, 2017.
One of the appealing features of this workout is that it is adaptable for all athletes, including adaptive athletes.
- “The WOD, like my brother, appears easygoing and light, but once you are into it, you need to dig deep and push through it,” said Lynn.
The funds raised from any Coffland Hero Challenge events this month are going directly to Catch A Lift Fund and helping fund the Wellness Program that has and is continuing to help thousands of injured veterans.
“When combat-injured veterans leave the military, it often takes years to seek out a nonprofit— injury, substance, mental health. Once they are ready to get out there again, we’re here for them,” Lynn said.
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Featured image: Catch a Lift