To our Tucson community and local climbers –
As in early spring, the spike in confirmed Covid-19 cases in our state prompted a late-June discussion of closing down our gyms. And, on June 29th, as on March 16th, we were given only a few hours’ notice to ‘pause’ our operations. Amazingly in March, there was an immediate response necessitating a ‘Covid-19 Gym Support’ addition to our website, which provided an avenue of financial help from our community as well as messages of moral and emotional support.
Our priority these past months has been the health and safety of our community and our employees. We worked diligently throughout the initial stay-at-home order to create and implement sensible policies that would inform and protect everyone who walked through our doors. The amount of positive and appreciative feedback we received from healthcare workers, high-risk members, and many others regarding our COVID-related protocol was greatly appreciated and reassuring.
In April, we applied for PPP and EIDL loans which enabled us in part to pay our employees and keep our two gyms afloat. This closure will be different. There is no assistance or aid for which we have not applied or already utilized. At this point in time, our goal is simply to sustain our businesses. This means that last week we made the incredibly tough decision to furlough all of our part-time employees as well as institute partial pay for the handful of full-time employees still working. In addition, we have decided that regardless of the recent state mandate, we will reopen no earlier than September 1st, and only if certain criteria are achieved and maintained. As we have throughout this pandemic, we are gathering information in order to identify what these parameters might look like. Although another extended closure is not what we want (thanks, 2020), we feel it is the responsible decision for our business and our community.
The point of all this is to let you know that your financial aid during this time is crucial. We are still working to improve our facilities in order to offer you an amazing climbing experience, as we have for the past 28 years. And, despite the world outside our doors (you know, mountains on fire, crazy heat, and folks strolling around without masks), we are still confident our community and our city will come through this better than we were before.
During this wholly unprecedented time we are looking to you, our community, for support. Anything helps. Please consider visiting the COVID-19 Gym Support Page on our website. Another way to support us is by simply sharing this post. Stay hydrated, stay safe, and stay healthy. We miss you all.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.