Crystal Clear: a Vision of a Healthy Community

Chatty, cheery conversations click along among the women of Curves, a national franchise women's work-out club in downtown Los Alamos, New Mexico. Topics of conversation run the gamut from recipe exchanges to happenings at the high school and state politics, according to owner Crystal Dufresne.

All the while, hydraulic resistance machines move and clang rhythmically with the banter and fits of laughter.

The group is as varied as can be -- single, married, divorced, widowed, moms, grandmas, writers, physicists, teachers, and businesswomen. As a member and beneficiary of the club, Crystal says she has lost weight and gained friends. That's why she bought the franchise. The opportunity to purchase the business opened up a few months after Crystal moved to Los Alamos, and she felt it was right for her.

It was July of 2006 that Crystal and her family moved from Washington, D.C. where they had lived for 10 years. Her husband Tom took a position at the Los Alamos National Security lab as a technical staff member. Their daughter Clarissa is 20 and attending the University of Tennessee, and their son Brad is 15 and a sophomore at Los Alamos High School and plays on the tennis team.

Soon after their arrival, the family began to find their place in the community. When choosing a church, the family chose First Baptist Church in part because of its youth leadership program. Crystal is a Sunday School teacher there, and she's also the Pastor's Assistant.

Tom had been in the Army for 11 years, so the family lived by "Home is where the Army sends us." But upon moving to Los Alamos, they adopted a new motto -- "Home is the community that we build up around us," says Crystal. "If you want to be happy where you live, you have to help make it a happy place."

That fall, Crystal and her daughter Clarissa joined Curves to work out together to enjoy some mother daughter time. Then Crystal took a staff position at Curves.

"I began to meet people and felt like a part of the community," says Crystal. "I met lots of ladies with varied backgrounds, and found out about what was going on in town, and realized that was the best way to acclimate to the area."

She lost weight and saw her own health improve since she joined, and often celebrated with other women as they progressed to their goals.

"I'd already had a chance to see what a great ministry it is," she says. "To me it is a ministry because it is where God wants me to be."

The Curves tradition was not unlike Crystal's own community work - being involved with local charities. Curves already had a tradition and a corporate culture of community participation, so she inherited some fundraisers and took on new ones. The Food Drive for LA Cares and the "Relay for Life" for American Cancer Society were staples, and her first Christmas as the owner of Curves the group adopted a family that had lost their home to a fire and bought them all presents.

She organized the Curves members to give Christmas presents to the residents of Casa Mesita girls' home, hosts the Trick or Treat on Main Street -- handing out healthy snacks and week-long memberships. Crystal added another drive this year, the "Soles4Souls" effort, which facilitates the donations of shoes to aid people worldwide.

In early June of this year, Crystal moved Curves to a new, smaller location on Central Avenue, a few doors south of the Motor Vehicle Division and just up the stairs from the Coffee Booth. The downsizing was in response to economic factors that caused a decrease in membership, according to Crystal.

Although down about 20 percent over the past three years, Curves members are still a close-knit group of otherwise mostly unrelated community members.

"Many members say that's why they choose to exercise at Curves - because of the community of people to share and talk with as they work out," Crystal says. "We all come together and to do things. For example, we had members who went to the Trinity on the Hill Mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. We all supported them with donations and good wishes."

Crystal says that "health" includes a variety of things - physical health, spiritual health, and emotional health. "I love being the owner of Curves," she says. "I know we are helping to make people stronger, in so many ways."

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