Dear FAmily,
We are overwhelmed and deeply humbled by how you and the First Ascent community stepped up to support us and our staff.
Over 90% of First Ascent members stayed active in March. With your support, we were able to pay our staff through March 31st.
THANK YOU from all of us at First Ascent! You are a part of a truly powerful community. You made a real, tangible impact, and we are incredibly grateful.
Many of you have asked how you can continue to support First Ascent. Click below to learn more about how you can lend your support during the extended closures.
Given the current status of COVID-19 in Illinois, all First Ascent gyms will remain closed until at least April 7th. We will re-open as soon as it is legal, safe, and responsible for us to do so. The exact date we will open our doors again remains uncertain, but we will be sure to keep you updated along the way.
When the pandemic subsides, we want First Ascent to be ready for you to climb and connect, and for our staff to have a place to work. We are fighting to keep as many staff on payroll for as long as we can while at the same time paying significant expenses such as rent and loans.
Since the closure has extended, we have decided to furlough most of our part-time staff and some full-time staff starting April 1st. This decision was heart wrenching, but we made it knowing that it ultimately serves our staff best – most will receive more income from unemployment insurance than we can offer them during the extended closure.
The First Ascent founders are foregoing 100% of our pay during the closure so we can pay more staff.
We need your help: if you are financially able, please click below to continue your membership to support First Ascent. The more members that stay on with us, the more staff we can keep on to create live-streamed classes and content, provide member communication, and pitch in to help us prepare for re-opening.
We would greatly appreciate anything you can contribute. We’ve got some great ideas for how to say “thank you!” to everyone who maintains an active membership during the crisis, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you once we’ve made it through this thing.
We also understand that this is a time of financial uncertainty for many of you. If we don’t receive a response from members by March 30th, we will assume you would like your membership to go on hold starting April 1st.
We will automatically freeze Monthly Memberships for free until we open our doors, and we will extend all Annual and One-month Memberships for the amount of time we are closed. If you would prefer to make another change to your membership, you can complete the Membership Change form here.
Social distancing may have altered the way we commune, but it cannot and will not weaken this community.
We truly are stronger together, and we will get through this together. Thank you for your continued support!
Be well,
Dan, Joe, Jon, and Dave | the First Ascent founders