what would be happening with memberships, and then later guests posted that they were real- ly missing oranj and wanted back into the city!


The studio right now While our studio has suf-


fered from extensive smoke dam- age, we are thankful that it is still standing. In fact, the flames stopped on Confederation Ave., just a couple hundred metres from our studio. We are currently working with


contractors and our insurance provider to clean up the studio. At the top of our huge check- list is ensuring that all aspects of our facility are safe for our guests and staff. Our studio is quite different from


many other studios. We have a huge retail section, a childcare room, a veg- an superfood smoothie bar and four fitness rooms for high-end group fit- ness classes. We are currently dealing with food safety, childcare safety and sanitation, bringing in new stock for our retails shop and ensuring that the entire HVAC system is in good, clean working order. We have been in contact with our


insurance provider and construction contractors almost daily since May third, the evacuation date, working to create an action plan that would be ready to immediately implement once we were allowed back into the city.


Rebuilding costs soar I’m told that the professional clean-


ing costs alone will be approximate- ly $77,000. The value of our lost re- tail inventory and equipment is over $275,000. This is just the physical damage and doesn’t include losses in revenue. The biggest frustration was that no


one—including insurance adjustors— was allowed back into the city. This was the hardest part: not knowing how much damage had been done or if the studio had burned to the ground. Finally, on May 6 I received a message and photos from a firefighter friend who confirmed that my studio was still standing. That’s when my concern turned to how much smoke damage was done. We were finally cleared to return to the city on June 3. That was when I


The cleanup begins...


learned that our rooftop HVAC units had been left on, and they had sucked in and circulated all the smoke. I lost over $250,000 of retail inventory, $13,000 of food and studio equipment and about $400,000 of lost sales rev- enue while the club was closed.


Mega cleaning and regrouping staff At the time of writing, we have com-


pleted a massive top to bottom clean- ing and are waiting to receive approval from the health inspector to re-open for business. Once this happens, we’ll start setting up all the new retail items, new equipment, prepping smoothies, etc.


Currently, our biggest challenge is


organizing our staff. They are scat- tered everywhere, temporarily living with friends or family, and all are re- turning to the city at different times. In the best of times, coordinating


staff for 100+ group fitness classes per week, plus retail, plus childcare, plus smoothie bar is quite complex. Thankfully, all of our staff are stepping up to help where they can. It’s actu- ally brought tears to my eyes to see the devotion and dedication they have for our oranj family.


Future plans We love Fort McMurray and are ex-


cited to be soon re-opening our doors. Oranj is known for hosting some pret- ty cool events, such as our Largest Outdoor Yoga Class, appreciation par- ties and birthday parties to name just a few. This year we will be offering a fun Canada Day bash for our re-opening,


which will be approximately two months after the evacuation. Our spe- cial event following it will be our com- pany-wide Largest Outdoor Yoga Class held in July in support of our charity initiative Mats for Metta.


Supporting others We would like to thank all of our


oranj communities for their tremen- dous support of our Hand to Hand fundraiser. When the fires hit Fort McMurray, everyone wanted to help. It was a powerful event and by far one of the most heart-fulfilling initia- tives we’ve organized to date. There were many hugs, tears and laughs as well as genuine appreciation for one another. This one-week fundraising initiative


raised over $20,000 through karma classes, in-studio donations and from donations to our gofundme account. Oranj fitness then matched the


donation amount, taking our total funds raised to more than $40,000! These funds were distributed to Fort McMurray evacuees through random acts of kindness, immediate funds support and two yoga classes held in Kelowna and Edmonton. Our Fort McMurray studio has


over 3,500 unlimited and punch-pass guests. Each and everyone one of them is like family, and we can’t wait to see them again and give them the biggest hugs ever. That’s a lot of hugs, but my staff and


I are ready! FBC


Sheila Chutskoff is the founder and CEO of five oranjfitness studios (www.oranjfitness.com) in Alberta and B.C.


July/August 2016 Fitness Business Canada 27


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44