Sixty-six locals tackled a national physical activity fundraising challenge earlier this month helping aid a Swift Current non-profit.

The Canadian Mental Health Association ran a push-up challenge, from Feb. 1 to Feb 23, with the Swift Current Branch participating for the first time. Locally, just over $2,000 was raised.

But for Todd Vallee, the executive director of the CMHA Swift Current Branch, the three-plus week exercise was more than just a fundraiser.

"The daily mental health facts and statistics I think opened a lot of people's eyes as to what's happening in the mental health landscape in Canada," he said.

Nationally, over 23 days, $2.4 million was raised for CMHA's across the country. Almost 50,000 participants registered for the challenge with over 44 million push-ups being completed.

"There are so many things that divide our country nowadays," he said. "We felt like was just a really positive way to involve people from coast to coast, getting active, learning about mental health in Canada, and we raised some funds in the process."