Residents Drop and Give Undies for a Cause

A cardboard box full of unopened packages of underwear sat on the beach next to a group of boot campers who brought them there.

"What time is it," Jason Kelske asked the group of 13 sweaty, out-of-breathe campers.

"Game time," they replied.

But both the campers and Kelske, owner of Game Time Strength, shared an understanding that the morning's workout session was more that just a game.

The entrance fee to participate in the "Drop and Give Me Undies" boot camp workout on Saturday was an unopened pack of underwear. Kelske sends the donated packages to a volunteer-based charity organization, UnderShare, he said, which then distributes the garments to women and children in need.

"So, we all have a common goal and today we are working towards that as a team," Kelske said.

Many of the boot campers admitted that the workout session was something they would have paid to attend, despite the charity effort. The fact that the camp benefited UnderShare was an added bonus, said Stacey Thomas, 23, who drove to Hermosa Beach from Hollywood for the event.

"You should do this every Saturday," she told Kelske. "I'd be here."

Thomas's friend, 26-year-old Hermosa Beach resident Laura Bartlett, nodded in agreement while taking a big gulp from her water bottle.

"I honestly thought it was going to be less intense than it was," she said, before explaining that the boot camp included an hour-long rotation of lunges, sprints and strength training.

The camp was organized to celebrate team spirit while collectively improving physical health, said Kelske, who has set a world record in deadlift weight training.

"I was the instructor for the first 'Drop and Give Me Undies' boot camp in April," he said. "Everyone loved it."

Knowing that the workout serves a greater good makes the program more revitalizing and uplifting, said Saturday's attendees.

"It's nice," Bartlett said. "I went to Target last night and bought the underwear."

"I got little boy's underwear," Thomas chimed in.

The underwear collected on Saturday will benefit the families sheltered by Sojourn, a service organization for battered women and their children in Santa Monica. UnderShare has planned to host another Hermosa Beach boot camp in coming months.