SAVONBURG — You have to wonder if the anthropologist Margaret Mead had Allen County in mind when she said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Proof positive: In Elsmore, Vera Isaacs and Dick Fewins have double-handedly turned the town’s aging community building into an exercise center outfitted with spanking new fitness equipment. Up on its stage are perched Precor-brand equipment, including a treadmill, an exercise bike, an elliptical and two weight benches with a variety of weights neatly organized on nearby racks. A ballet barre, stretch bands and balance balls will help keep knees and hips nimble. A wide mirror lines the back wall, just as in professional gyms.
Isaacs, a sprightly 73, said Elsmore residents “got a taste of fitness” two years ago when many participated in the first Allen County Meltdown weightloss effort. Over the winter, city officials opened the spacious community center so residents could use it as a walking venue. Last year’s Meldown further reinforced the healthy habit, Isaacs said, so much so that she and Fewins were encouraged to see if they could secure professional-grade equipment for their townsfolk.
Fewins said the two Meltdowns, sponsored by Thrive Allen County, “acquainted us with Thrive and its goals of making better, healthier communities.”
Monday night, Isaacs and Fewins told members of Thrive Allen County about how they were able to secure a $12,600 grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City to buy the exercise equipment. The endeavor also prompted city officials to make significant upgrades to the aging center including new heating units and repairs to its roof.
The meeting at the Savonburg Community Center was one of several Community Conversations that Thrive holds across the county throughout the year. Nineteen attended the meeting. The communities of Elsmore, Savonburg, Moran, Gas and Iola were represented.
Isaacs and Fewins credited Ruth St. Clair of the Thrive office with help in writing the grant to the Kansas City foundation, to which St. Clair responded, “They had the vision. We just put it on paper.”
The process was agonizingly slow, Isaacs said. “It was like giving birth to a set of broken dishes.”
And yet, now that the exercise center is about to open, it seems too good to be true. “It’s all we talk about,” she said.
There will be no charge to use the facility, Fewins said. Hours have yet to be determined.
Elsmore gets in shape
