North Valley Gymnastics will be setting up in the Whitevale Elementary School after a fire destroyed their facility last year

Photo: Contributed

After months of being in limbo, North Valley Gymnastics have a place to call home.

The popular club suffered a major loss in October 2021 when fire destroyed their new facility.

Since then, competitive athletes and their coaches have been travelling to Kelowna where Kelowna Gymnastix and Synergy Gymnastics offered the use of their facilities.

For the past few months, NVG has been seeking an area locally where they can train and thanks to social media and School District 22 they have found a place in Whitevale.

Melissa Locke, with NVG, sent out a plea on social media for anyone who had a location the club could move into at least temporarily.

Someone suggested the Whitevale Elementary School building in Lumby that is not being used.

“We are so excited. The school board is completely on board, which is amazing,” said Locke. “This all came about from a random post on our Facebook page. They said 'What about Whitevale?' so we followed it up. It was social media to the rescue.”

Locke said the school district is clearing out an area they had been using for storage and the club will move in July 1.

Now that the club has a place of operation, it can start ordering equipment as everything was lost in the fire.

Locke said the insurance process is still ongoing, but with the temporary space they are being allowed a month-to-month lease by the school district, the club can hold its summer camps and start up its recreational gymnastics programs as well.

Locke said registration for the summer programs will go live online on Wednesday.

“We are really excited to bring recreational gymnastics back,” she said. “We are excited about being in Lumby too and giving Lumby kids more access.

As for a permanent location, Locke said they are still waiting on insurance and are looking at all of their options.

For more information and to registers, visit the NVG website.