ABOVE: Pastor Frank McCollough, Alderman Ed Butler, Sharron Runyan, and Chip Runyan pose by the fitness center sign, where a new one will soon say “Three Kings of Peace, Roselawn Fitness Center.”
It was last year that Chip and Sharron Runyan retired after 33 years of owning and operating the Roselawn Fitness Center in the old Roselawn School. And now, the old school building is being purchased from them by the Three Kings of Peace, currently run by Danville City Council Alderman Ed Butler and Pastor Frank McCollough.
Butler says this all goes back to before the Runyans retired. Chip Runyan drove up at the Steel Grip building in Garfield Park, where the Three Kings of Peace were in the process of getting some community activities for youngsters going. Runyan asked if they’d like to purchase the weight equipment at the Roselawn Center. But later, while looking it over, Butler says he and McCollough started thinking, “Hey, wait a minute.”
AUDIO: He knew that we all had the same concept, you know, that he had; as far as fitness and dealing with the young people and all that good stuff. And so he brought us over here at Roselawn; he took us in the weight room. And so, we came to look at the building as a whole; and, Mr. Frank and I; and I said “you know, shoot, we ought to just go ahead and get the whole building!”
Pastor Frank McCollough, Chip Runyan, Sharron Runyan, and Alderman Ed Butler pose inside one of the “Three Kings of Peace, Roselawn Fitness Center” weight rooms.
At that time, the Runyans thought they had a buyer for the Roselawn School Building who did not want the equipment. But that deal fell through. And Chip Runyan says that’s where a special effort began.
AUDIO: It is the old school “what can we do together to make a project work?” Ed and Frank are just as good of guys as you would ever meet. And they’re doing exactly what Sharron and I have done. And they’re going to do their thing with a very nice support system. We’re very excited with what they’re going to be able to do and enjoy.
And that old school handshake agreement is going to allow the Three Kings of Peace to make payments as they bring in income doing, as Chip says, offering the same services he and Sharron did. There are plans to offer memberships, rent rooms for aerobics and yoga instructors to have classes, basketball clinics, and down the road a bit, they plan to open a daycare like Roselawn Fitness Center used to have. Butler says they’ll be working on getting some grants as well.
Friday, November 10th was a soft opening, and Butler says a grand opening will be scheduled soon. For now, they plan to be opening up between 8 and 9 in the morning. And yes, he and Pastor McCollough will still be helping with the student crossing and traffic at North Ridge. They are looking for a new full time third member of the Three Kings of Peace, by the way. And work on getting more things going at the Steel Grip building continues.
Also, there will eventually be a new sign out front that says “Three Kings of Peace, Roselawn Fitness Center.”
