Numerous fitness facilities across the country are raising money and donating supplies to those affected by Katrina. Here’s a sample of what some are doing.
· XSport Fitness, a Chicago-based fitness facility with 14 locations, donated $1,000 per location to the relief efforts.
· Life Time Fitness centers in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas and Virginia collected clothing, blankets and money for the American Red Cross efforts. The Life Time Fitness Foundation will also make a contribution.
· Billy Blanks hosted a “Labor of Love” for Hurricane Katrina Relief in Los Angeles.
· YOGAFIT Inc. made a donation to the American Red Cross for the hurricane relief fund and encouraged their instructors to teach a class and donate the proceeds to a humanitarian organization, collect non-perishables for the local food shelf or make a cash donation. Also, the week of Sept. 12 was Yoga for Hurricane Victims Week.
· The Air Force Aid Society established a nationwide relief fund to help Air Force families affected by the hurricane. For more information contact: http://www.afas.org.
· BodyBusiness Health and Fitness put a Red Cross donation box at its two clubs in Austin, TX. The club will match donations up to $1,000 at each facility. It also offered free workouts for a maximum of six months to family or friends of members who are in Austin because of the hurricane.
· WOW! Work Out World made an initial contribution of $5,000 to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 relief fund, and the clubs are matching all donations made by friends, members and business colleagues up to a second $5,000. In addition, the fitness apparel pro shop donated 25 percent of all sales made during the month of September.
· Michael’s Body Scenes and Advanced Physical Therapy in Boca Raton, FL, each donated $1,000 to the Red Cross relief efforts. The facility challenged its members, guests and staff to match the donation, and as of press time, the facility had raised more than $23,000.
· Florida-based Lifestyle Family Fitness locations served as monetary donation collection centers. One hundred percent of all donations were allocated for both front-line disaster relief and long-term recovery needs.
· Silhouette Studio for Women, a women-only circuit training club in Ramona, CA, collected monetary donations for the victims of Katrina and worked with a local church to get the donations to those in need.
· Three Jazzercise centers in the Kansas City metropolitan area offered a hurricane relief class in mid-September. Jazzercise students paid $10 at the door for the two-hour, team-taught class, and $2,000 was donated to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
· Curves is matching funds up to $1,000 at each of its locations for relief efforts. With 9,000 franchises, the contribution could be up to $18 million.
· YWCA USA donated $25,000 and collected monetary donations at its locations.
· Several Liberty Fitness locations collected supplies for victims, allowed evacuees in their area to work out for free and/or adopted evacuee families.
· Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative offered their conceptual planning services to facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The architecture firm also worked with affected clubs at a discounted rate.
· The LA-based Spectrum Athletic Clubs gave $20,000 to the American Red Cross.
· The New Jersey-based Atlantic Club raised $30,000 for the American Red Cross.
· American Family Fitness matched donations dollar for dollar up to $20,000. Donations are being collected at all six American Family Fitness locations for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. Donations are accepted through November 1.
· The YMCA of Snohomish County is joining other YMCAs across the country to offer families displaced by Hurricane Katrina with complimentary six-month YMCA family memberships.