Lululemon, competitor gym help Castro's flooded MX3 Fitness raise big dollars for storm relief
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- After flood waters devastated a gym in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, neighbors stepped up to help in a big way.
And Friday was another big surprise: Lululemon also pitched in to raise funds for the gym's recovery.
MX3 Fitness in the Castro District took in major flood damage after a storm on New Year's Eve pummeled the Bay Area.
"When we were standing here, the entire wall kind of exploded with water," said co-owner Dave Karraker last week. He said a pipe burst in one of the gym walls.
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"We estimate the cost to fix the wall, that's a cost of the landlord. That's going to be about $20,000. Then we have more clean up costs. (And) several thousand dollars of lost wages to employees. Every week that we are closed, we lose about $8,000," Karraker said.
Karraker said his gym weathered the pandemic but had to shut down right when they were expecting a bunch of new clients with New Year's resolutions.
"We thought we were coming out the other side. And then to have Mother Nature slap us across the face and say, 'Uh-uh. We are not done yet with you,' and have the gym close down because of flooding, it was such a punch in the gut," Karraker said.
Core MVMT, a gym across the street, stepped up to help MX3 fitness. They set up a GoFundme campaign.
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On Friday came another major surprise.
"Lululemon found out about it somehow and came to us and said, 'Hey, we want to do a fundraiser for you to support the GoFundMe'," Karraker said.
All the money raised on this one day by Lululemon's pop-up shop goes to help MX3.
"We have their GoFundMe linked here. We're asking for a $30 donation for all this product that is screen-printed with this design from a local artist," said a Lululemon employee.
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The GoFundMe started by the competitor gym raised $8,000 dollars in less than a week.
Remarkably, Lululemon helped raise another $5,000 in less than four hours on a rainy day. On Friday evening, the total raised reached to nearly $13,000 of the $20,000 dollar goal.
Core MVMT and Lululemon say they're just happy to help.
Owner Lisa Thomure of Core MVMT said it's been a collaborative effort, a team effort with so many people coming out to show their support. Thomure also said that when her gym flooded in January last year because of a plumbing emergency, the owners of MX3 didn't hesitate to help.
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As for Karraker...
'We are absolutely gob smacked. If there is ever use for that word, this is it," said Karraker. "I can't thank core movement and Lisa Thomure enough for setting up this GoFundMe. It's so heartwarming. It makes me tear me up a lot and to have a giant corporation like Lululemon step in and also help out. It shows there's a lot of good out there, that people want small businesses to survive and thrive," Karraker said.
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