Friends of Community Fitness working to resurface gym floor

Beach party BBQ Saturday

Staff report

    GUILFORD — Friends of Community Fitness is embarking on its largest fundraiser to date, replacing the gymnasium floor at the center with a total of $17,000 being sought for the project. Presently the flooring is carpeting and the room is used to play basketball, volleyball and for a variety of fitness classes. The space is also used as a cafeteria during public suppers and rentals for children’s birthday parties and showers.

    To raise funds for the gym floor, Friends of Community Fitness will hold a beach party BBQ on Saturday, March 21 from 4-6 p.m. The BBQ will help get attendees to think of warmer weather with burgers, hot dogs, pulled pork, BBQ chicken wings, veggie burgers, salads and a build your own strawberry shortcake dessert.
    Among the reasons to replace the gym flooring are: the carpet is 25-years-old, worn and impossible to get clean; it is a hazard to those with allergies and breathing problems; athletic shoes often fetch up in the carpet, causing falls, wrenched knees, hips and ankles; and the carpet is directly over cement, allowing no “give” to the floor.
    Friends of Community Fitness officials have researched several different types of flooring including rolled rubber, vinyl and hardwood and made a decision to replace it with an athletic laminate flooring that looks like hardwood. It has shock towers on the bottom that will give the floor the bounce that is needed. The flooring comes from a reputable company that does business all over the country, has a 30-year warranty, and will be installed by a company based in Maine. The total cost of the project is over $17,000
    Among the planned fundraisers are sponsorships of floor spaces with a facsimile of the floor divided into 170 squares. When a square is purchased, the donors’ names are written in the squares. When the project is completed a permanent facsimile with the names of the donors will be placed on the wall in the gymnasium. A raffle and other events are planning as well.
    The project began in late February and so far has raised $6,800. The goal is to have the floor installed this summer.
    For more information about Community Fitness and what it offers to the greater Guilford community, please visit www.comfitme.com or call 876-4813.