Work on gym slated as next project

 

CHESAPEAKE — Plans for renovations continue at the Chesapeake Community Center with an upcoming fundraiser earmarked to pay for some of those upgrades.

Kristen Miller, the center’s regular Zumba instructor, will head up a two-hour Zumbathon on Jan. 26 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We will have several instructors,” Ruth Damron, center director, said. “We will be dancing our butts off.”

Participation will cost $5 per person and all of those fees will be donated to the center.

“We are earmarking the money for the floor (in the gymnasium),” Damron said. “It has to be sanded down and refinished. And the ceiling in the gym, there are tiles that have to be removed or replaced.”

However Damron is considering taking down the tile drop ceiling and painting the plaster.

“But the tiles are noise absorbers,” she said. “I am hoping we can do something that won’t be so extravagantly expensive.”

Recently the center has faced financial challenges starting with a $3,200 bill to repair the furnace and an almost $500 charge to replace a water meter gasket.

That coupled with competition the center faces from an increase in the number of health clubs has meant tough times for the self-supporting center.

“Our memberships have fallen by half,” Damron said. “We are in a money crunch. We have to try to raise some money.”

There is no pre-registration for the Zumbathon and participants can work out for the entire two-hours for the $5 fee.

“They just have to show up,” Damron said.