GreenLake Fitness COVID-19 Support Fund
Donation protected
Thank you to everyone that has rallied to support the future of our gym so far. It was truly amazing and humbling to see how many of you were willing to jump in and do your part to support this 40 year strong community & fitness center that we have in our lovely Green Lake neighborhood.
GreenLake Fitness, like many small businesses, faced this second set of closures with an uncertain outlook on where we’d be on the other side of everything. All of our financial resources had been drained due to the first round of closures that began in March of 2020, and we did not have the cushion we once saved up for scenarios like this.
Now, we have hope. That hope is 100% due to all of you.
To those that made the commitment to stay at their normal dues rates even while our doors were closed, to those that made the tough decision to continue to support the gym at our reduced dues rate even if they were facing their own financial struggles, and to those that out of the kindness of their hearts donated funds to the gym, we are immeasurably grateful and forever indebted to you.
GreenLake Fitness, because we are looking at the long-term survival of our business, went to negotiate with our property owners this past weekend. This was in an effort to seek out their aid in reducing the financial burden of operating a business with our doors closed to members as well as attain their commitment to provide support for several months as this would ensure proper planning and forecasting. Although we did receive a substantial percentage of relief for December of 2020, we were not approved for the latter.
So this is where we stand in our projections to make it to the beginning of March 2021 (one year from our initial closure date on March 16, 2020).
We currently have reached 60% of our target goal amount of donations to sustain the business with closed doors at bare bone operations until March of 2021. Calculating that every month we continue to sit closed we will lose around 10-15% of our member base per month for legitimate financial reasons, as well as accounting for basic operating expenses (i.e. utilities and the pay of minimal staff members), the difference between what we will make in revenue and what we still need in order to fill the gap for rent for those months is $10,000.
Outside of the support we have received from our own members, we also applied to be in the pool to attain the Office of Economic Development’s Small Business Stabilization Fund. There currently is $4 million in this fund to provide 10K grants to small businesses throughout Seattle who have been financially impacted by COVID-19. We also are applying for Governor Inslee’s Working Washington Small Business Grant which is expected to open for applications this week (week of November 30th).
Without the guarantee from our property owners for reduced rent through March of 2021, the assurance that we’ll receive one of the small business grants, or some insight on the direction Governor Inslee plans on taking, so much is uncertain for us. What we do know is that we are still here and we will continue to be here as GreenLake Fitness with all the support from our members.
We wish that we could thank each and every one of you in person for all that you’ve done for GreenLake Fitness so far. The community here is what makes this gym stand out from the rest, and why it’s been here for as long as it has. Just know that the sweet satisfaction of victory will be in the air when you are able to walk through our doors again and we can share an exchange of smiles in the fact that, we did it.
Forever Grateful to You,
The GreenLake Fitness Team
GreenLake Fitness, like many small businesses, faced this second set of closures with an uncertain outlook on where we’d be on the other side of everything. All of our financial resources had been drained due to the first round of closures that began in March of 2020, and we did not have the cushion we once saved up for scenarios like this.
Now, we have hope. That hope is 100% due to all of you.
To those that made the commitment to stay at their normal dues rates even while our doors were closed, to those that made the tough decision to continue to support the gym at our reduced dues rate even if they were facing their own financial struggles, and to those that out of the kindness of their hearts donated funds to the gym, we are immeasurably grateful and forever indebted to you.
GreenLake Fitness, because we are looking at the long-term survival of our business, went to negotiate with our property owners this past weekend. This was in an effort to seek out their aid in reducing the financial burden of operating a business with our doors closed to members as well as attain their commitment to provide support for several months as this would ensure proper planning and forecasting. Although we did receive a substantial percentage of relief for December of 2020, we were not approved for the latter.
So this is where we stand in our projections to make it to the beginning of March 2021 (one year from our initial closure date on March 16, 2020).
We currently have reached 60% of our target goal amount of donations to sustain the business with closed doors at bare bone operations until March of 2021. Calculating that every month we continue to sit closed we will lose around 10-15% of our member base per month for legitimate financial reasons, as well as accounting for basic operating expenses (i.e. utilities and the pay of minimal staff members), the difference between what we will make in revenue and what we still need in order to fill the gap for rent for those months is $10,000.
Outside of the support we have received from our own members, we also applied to be in the pool to attain the Office of Economic Development’s Small Business Stabilization Fund. There currently is $4 million in this fund to provide 10K grants to small businesses throughout Seattle who have been financially impacted by COVID-19. We also are applying for Governor Inslee’s Working Washington Small Business Grant which is expected to open for applications this week (week of November 30th).
Without the guarantee from our property owners for reduced rent through March of 2021, the assurance that we’ll receive one of the small business grants, or some insight on the direction Governor Inslee plans on taking, so much is uncertain for us. What we do know is that we are still here and we will continue to be here as GreenLake Fitness with all the support from our members.
We wish that we could thank each and every one of you in person for all that you’ve done for GreenLake Fitness so far. The community here is what makes this gym stand out from the rest, and why it’s been here for as long as it has. Just know that the sweet satisfaction of victory will be in the air when you are able to walk through our doors again and we can share an exchange of smiles in the fact that, we did it.
Forever Grateful to You,
The GreenLake Fitness Team
Organizer
Kevin McKay
Organizer
Seattle, WA