Shifting Focus: Grizzly Family Fitness Rebrands as Nonprofit Community Center for Mat-Su
Rick Taylor, president of Me-2-We, speaks about Grizzly Family Fitness’ decision to shift to a nonprofit organization.
Photo Credit: Alaska Business
Grizzly Family Fitness, one of the largest exercise facilities in Mat-Su, changed hands in August. Established as a limited liability company with profits poured back into the business, co-founder Scott Johannes says the decision to hand the business to Mat-Su nonprofit Me-2-We will allow the fitness facility to transform more fully into a community center.
Holding Court
“We want to make sure that it benefits the community, which it’s done for a long time,” said Me-2-We President Rick Taylor at the September 9 ribbon cutting marking the change of ownership.
Grizzly Family Fitness opened January 1, 2008, Johannes says. It’s operated under a couple names, first with a partnership with telecom company AT&T, then with local telecom cooperative MTA. More recently, “MTA Sports Center” dropped the naming sponsorship and went with Grizzly Fitness.
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Throughout its operation, it’s mostly been a membership-style fitness center on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, almost exactly halfway between the two cities. General Manager Mark Dinkel says he was a founding member, which guaranteed him a low membership rate. He’s been managing the facility since 2011 and jokes that he can’t leave; he’s afraid he’d lose his “founding member” status and have to pay a higher rate.
Dinkel says gym members won’t see much of a change as a result of the new nonprofit status.
Rick Taylor, president of Me-2-We, center, and Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, cut a ribbon to celebrate Grizzly Family Fitness’ transition to new ownership and nonprofit status.
Photo Credit: Alaska Business
“The biggest change is going to be that we’re reaching out to nonprofits and allowing them to come in and use the facility—a lot of times for free,” he says. Dinkel notes that the user agreements will stipulate terms that allow unimpeded access for members, but he adds that the facility is frequently wide open throughout the day.
“We have a lot of space,” he says. “I think a lot of the nonprofits can accomplish their missions here also.”
Me-2-We has had a longstanding partnership with Grizzly Fitness through its Night Court programs. The nonprofit has operated Friday and Saturday Night Courts, allowing teens and young adults to come in and play pick-up basketball along with other ball sports for a $7 charge, between 9 p.m. and midnight.
That program will stay in place, and Taylor and Dinkel hope other partnerships will follow.
“The most important thing—because we only started August 1—is to create as many partnerships with the nonprofits as possible,” Dinkel says. “We’re essentially rebranding as a community center.”
It’s too early to say what those partnerships will look like, but Taylor says the Me-2-We board of directors is committed to keeping Grizzly Family Fitness operating at the same standard as it has been under Johannes.
Taylor proclaimed at the ribbon cutting, “We will do everything we can to keep this going. This is something that I really, really feel passionate about—this needs to be part of your legacy. The goodness that has happened in this building is almost immeasurable.”
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