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Since joining a fitness facility through the Duke Fitness
Club, Aranjeet Sidhu now works out three times a week.
(photo by Butch Usery)
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Discounted Membership Helps Family Join YMCA
After turning 40, Aranjeet Sidhu, a clinical staff
pharmacist at Durham Regional Hospital, wanted to get
in shape. The challenge wasn't adhering to a workout
schedule - she was already committed to that. The
problem was finding a fitness club that would benefit
her as well as her husband and son. The ideal facility
would be close to their Chapel Hill home, would fit in
with their demanding schedules and would be affordable.
"We'd been thinking of joining a club but the
membership dues were exorbitant," she said.
Then Sidhu discovered that thanks to a Duke
employee benefit, her family could join the Chapel Hill
YMCA, located down the street from their home, at
a discounted rate. "It's exceptionally convenient and
affordable," she said.
Launched in October 2002, the Duke Fitness Club
allows faculty, staff and family members to join local
fitness centers throughout the Triangle at reduced
membership rates. The Duke Fitness
Club offers a network of seven fitness
facilities with 13 locations in the
Triangle, including Durham (three
locations on Duke's campus), Raleigh,
Cary, Research Triangle Park, Chapel
Hill and Hillsborough.
Through the Duke Fitness Club, Sidhu's
family did not have to pay a membership
fee to join the Chapel Hill YMCA, and
her family saves about $20 a month on
the dues. The family joined in February,
and Sidhu now works out three times
a week." Before this, I never had a
regular exercise program," she said.
And her son, who didn't swim before, takes regular
swim classes." He's actually a very good swimmer
thanks to the YMCA," Sidhu said.
The YMCA is open from early in the morning until late
at night, hours which accommodate her family's busy
schedule. She and her son will go to the YMCA earlier
in the day, but her husband will often go to work out
in the evening. And sometimes the whole family will
go to the YMCA together. "My husband and I can now
exercise while my son is at his swim lessons, all in the
same facility," she said.
The family is also happy with the array of services
from which they can choose to participate in, including
summer camps, basketball and fitness classes.
Best of all, Sidhu says the YMCA allows her family to
regularly see others they know from the community
and to make new friends. "It's a community center - a
place where families from throughout the community
participate in the club's offerings and have a chance to
meet new people," she says. "It is a great opportunity
for us to spend time together as a family in a way that
benefits us all."
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