Sam Noh experienced the full power of community spirit when the Tri-Cities mobilized to help look for his father, Shin Noh, who went missing from his Coquitlam home in September 2013.
And while his father, who had Alzheimer’s disease, was never found, Noh continues to pay forward the effort put in by volunteers who scoured the streets and parks and ravines searching for him.
With virtually everyone in the Tri-Cities and beyond cooped up in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic — separated from their friends, work colleagues and daily routines — the proprietor of two Eagle Ridge Fitness gyms in Port Coquitlam and Port Moody is aiming to support other local businesses that are suffering while helping people stay fit.
Noh and his wife, Laurie Elizabeth, are conducting an online 21-day fitness challenge by donation, with 75% of the proceeds being spent at nearby establishments for things like gift cards as accountability rewards to participants, and the remaining 25% going to their team of four regular instructors.
Noh said their goal is to raise $5,000 but with more than $2,800 already in the kitty, the challenge — and the benefits to local businesses — may go further.
The 40-minute workouts are streamed through Facebook Live five days a week and Noh said they’re designed so participants can do them in a home environment using available furniture or even household items like soup cans as weights.
Laurie Elizabeth said she has seen up to 30 people logged into a workout and everyone is able to interact with one another by sending messages of support and virtual kudos.
Noh, who helped advocate for the adoption of a provincial Silver Alert system to notify the public when elderly people with dementia go missing, said his 11-year experience as a small businessman has particularly tuned him to the struggles of the independent businesses around him that have been forced to close for public safety or have seen their customers disappear because they’re not leaving their homes.
He said helping people stay active and fit while extending a lifeline to the business community creates “a unified purpose,” adding, “this is a crisis we’re all facing.”
Laurie Elizabeth, who’s in charge of coming up with creative ways to keep the challenge participants accountable, said the rewards are doled out when someone attains a goal like working out for five straight days or even submitting a funny selfie from their exercise routine. She said those small victories can have a big meaning in troubled times.
• To sign up for the 21-day fitness challenge, go to erfonline.com.
