Help us bring Bendy Beast Fitness to Crosstown

Liz Kinnmark is organizing this fundraiser.

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Welcome! I’m Liz, the owner of Bendy Beast Fitness, and I’m really excited to announce our latest news. For those of you who may be new to our studio — we are a community space for pole fitness, aerial arts, and wellness in Memphis, TN.

We're outgrowing our current space on Lamar Ave., and are heading into our biggest and best chapter yet: Bendy Beast Fitness Crosstown! We have signed a 5-year lease on a 3,600 square foot space at 431 N. Cleveland St.

This is *3 times* bigger than where we are now, in a much more vibrant neighborhood. The new space will have 2 big dance rooms and 2 smaller dance and practice rooms, so that we can offer many more classes during peak hours. We will also have much more availability for private lessons, practice rentals and parties.

Expanding takes resources, and this is where we're asking for your help. Our total required budget for renovations at the new space and all the necessary equipment is $60,000. The part that we really need your help with right now are the pole equipment and the mirrors, which come to a total of $18,098.

We need to place these orders as soon as possible, to hit our target of opening to the public at the new space in early June. (This is why we chose to use Gofundme, versus Kickstarter, which we have used in the past. On Gofundme, your donations come through to our bank account almost right away, and we will be passing the funds on immediately to the vendors.)

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What We Need Right Now:

9 shorter poles (8.33 feet) for the upstairs studio: $475.82 each, $4,282 total
8 taller poles (13.33 feet) for the downstairs studio: $582.38 each, $4,659 total
1 cart to install and remove the removable poles, $238
Wall racks to hold poles when not in use, $536
Additional safety mat for the downstairs studio, $306
Shipping, $3,077
Total for pole equipment = $13,098

3 8' x 6' mirror panels for downstairs studio: $500 each, $1,500 total
2 8' x 6' mirror panels for private studio: $500 each, $1,000 total
5 8' x 6' mirror panels for upstairs studio: $500 each, $2,500 total
Total for mirrors = $5,000

Total fundraising goal: $18,098

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What We Need Next:

Should we be able to raise our full goal of everything we listed above, these are the next essentials that we'll start putting funds towards:

The remainder of the payment due to our general contractor, who is doing demolition, painting, and installing the floors: $7,860
Engineer's plans for reinforcing the beams in all rooms to carry the loads of people flying, and welding in all necessary reinforcements: $5,000
Replacing the front door with a higher security electromagnetic lock and key code access for staff, like we have at Lamar: $2,500
Frosted vinyl over the front windows, so that there is privacy during classes. $8/square foot for 280 square feet: $2,240

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Want To Come See What We're Doing?

We will be holding an open house at the new space on Saturday, April 20th from 5-8pm, and we'd love to have you out to see the work in process! Come eat, drink and be merry and help break in the dance floors which (pray with us) should be totally installed at that point. We can't wait!

This studio has been a community endeavor from the start, and as always, we appreciate the energy that every single one of you brings to the studio. Thanks for your help getting us to this point, and we are really looking forward to all the possibilities this new space brings.

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Want To Adopt A Specific Pole Or Mirror Panel?

For donations of $100 or greater, we will be giving you the option to adopt and name a specific pole (16 available) or mirror panel (10 available). We'll put a fun sticker with the name of your choice on the bottom of the pole or mirror!

At the end of the campaign, we will also be putting together a wall with the names of all donors who gave $50 or more, who would like to be commemorated. We did this after the Kickstarter campaign, and it's been an amazing commemoration of the history of the studio that we walk past every day. That panel will also be brought over from the current studio, and will be displayed side-by-side with the names from this campaign.