Joy. Just a three letter word that essentially means “a feeling of pleasure, happiness or glee.” For Jerri Timothy, owner of Fitness World in Price, that’s how she would describe her 35-year career in fitness: joyful. But that sentiment was missing for quite some time. Eight months to be exact. Now, after the grand re-opening of the gym, she’s finally starting to feel it again.
“Joy is my favorite word. Joy. Love it,” said Timothy, just days after the re-opening. “I’m starting to feel human again. I’m starting to feel like myself again. There’s that joy again.”
An early morning phone call left Timothy devastated on a Saturday in November. A treadmill had sparked up in the middle of the night, catching fire and melting everything around it: fans, light fixtures, an elliptical and treadmill and even clocks.
“It blackened everything front to back, top to bottom,” said Timothy, explaining that even the bathrooms had soot in the sinks. “It was pretty devastating.”
Despite the gym building being blackened, Timothy had the aerobics room up and running with classes being held again by Tuesday morning. She has continued to hold dozens of classes per week, but has yet to be able to open the weights and gym building next door, due to waiting on insurance money.
Some money was available through insurance to begin renovations right away. However, after the fire, the building had to meet new regulations in order to keep the hotel running upstairs. With no more insurance money available yet, Timothy had to put a hold on the restoration.
“We couldn’t let it continue until we know how much insurance is going to take care of,” said Timothy. “The insurance is the reason why we’re not open yet… we need our insurance to kick in and do right by us to get it going again.”
While still holding aerobics and spin classes, Timothy felt like she wasn’t doing all she could, not only for herself, but for her “fitness family.” The gym had memories, but she needed to move forward.
“I just felt like I was losing my battle and I wasn’t offering as much as I could to the people that were loyal and stayed with me.”
She began to look at possible buildings for a new aerobics room and small gym area. “I kept looking at the place across the street and it kept looking like it had potential,” said Timothy, saying she visited the location three different times.
Although she wanted to move forward, the issue of how to afford a new building, while continuing to pay for the old was still at the forefront.
“I just prayed and I said ‘God if this is your will, show me a sign,’” said Timothy. “And a kind gentleman came to my house with a check for $1,000. And I said ‘There’s my sign.’”
After first looking at the building in February, and not being able to move forward in March, Timothy and her husband Randy finally began work in April and worked all through April and all through May, moving into the new building on June 5. All hours were spent working on the building, with Timothy claiming, “We even missed church, sorry God.”
The new building features an aerobics room and spin area, as well as a small workout space with almost 100 possible exercises. It also features a personal training studio, which Timothy did not have in the other building.
“I love what I do and I’m going to do this and I’m going to get something going, I don’t care what it takes,” said Timothy, adamantly. “This is my life and I’m going to take control. And I prayed about it and it all came together, so now I get to spread that joy again in a new place.”
According to Timothy, there will probably not be enough money once the insurance does come through to get the “big” room going again. However, the plan is to move the workout equipment into the old aerobics studio, and have the gym on one side of the street and the aerobics on the other, in the new building.
The fire was devastating, closing down what was Jerri and Randy Timothy’s livelihood. However, there was positive that came out of it, according to Jerri.
“I think ‘Okay God, you made me slow down. Okay, I get it. But you didn’t stop me, because you gave me my aerobics and my spin.’ So I still have that… I’m thinking the message from heaven was for me and Randy to slow down and live life.”
Jerri Timothy is joyful again, after claiming that she wasn’t her normal, happy self during her fitness classes throughout the past eight months.
“There’s joy in my heart again and I’ve loved doing what I’m doing for 35 years I’ve just done it, not to get rich or famous, but to help people,” said Timothy.
Fitness World is now located at 58 W. Main St. in Price. For more information, call 613-SLIM.
Businesses open, re-open: Fitness World recovers from fire
Jerri Timothy leads a spin class in the new Fitness World building.