Grant Parish attorney turned abandoned gym into complex | Entertainment/Life

Grant Parish native Bonita Armour has practiced law in Louisiana for nearly 30 years, but it was an investment in fitness that has turned her community around. A Louisiana Christian University and LSU Law School alumna, Armour found herself without a place to work out. She solved the problem by creating a home gym with her husband for her and her friends to do CrossFit.

They named their group B22, inspired by the Taylor Swift song “22.” Armour says she and her friends want to have fun, feel 22 and do this for the rest of their lives. When Armour’s fitness group outgrew their home gym, she knew she had to go bigger. She never could have imagined how much bigger her fitness club, B22Fit, was going to be. 

After buying the former Grant High gymnasium in Dry Prong, which was abandoned for seven years at the time of purchase, Armour poured sweat equity and more money into the large building. Once she finished cleaning and renovating, the community came calling. All Grant Parish needed was the facility, and a slew of programs developed at the site.

View of B22 from the rafters. 

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Armour has said yes to many ideas and requests, and now B22Fit is the sports recreation center of the parish. For her vision, tenacity and commitment, the Louisiana Blue Foundation has awarded Armour an Angel Award for 2025. 

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

What was the condition of the Grant High School gym when you bought it?

I had gone to high school there, but I hadn’t been in it for 30 years. When we went and looked at it, it was in horrible shape. The floors were rotten. The roof was leaking. It was yellow.

My friends said, “No, do not do this. It is a money pit. It’s too big. We’ll never use it.”

But my God, the architecture of this place was amazing. This facility was the rec center at Camp Claiborne until the end of World War II. After the war, Dry Prong didn’t have a high school or any gym. So, men took apart the gym, numbered all of those boards and hauled it back here and put it together. It was the biggest gymnasium around at the time. 

Grant High gymnasium before Armour’s renovation. 

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I thought, “We’ve got to restore this. We’ve got to save it.” I financed it. I made arrangements and signed the papers and bought it in March 2018, but I still had no support.

How did the Dry Prong community get involved?

I bought one of those paint sprayers, because it was all red, ugly brick. I got this really dark gray color that I thought was really cool, and I sprayed the entire outside of the building. I power-washed it and started painting.

People started driving by, and they stopped and said, “Hey, I see you doing all this painting. Can I help?” They brought people, and then my girls, who had been working out with me, started helping. We had the community come together.

I bought it March 1, and July 1, we were ready to move in. I took all of my workout equipment that I had in my three-car garage, moved it all over, and we started. We opened it up to the public in October 2018.

A group of B22 Fit women pray before they start an exercise class. 

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What programs does B22Fit offer? 

Our plan was to have a place to work out for CrossFit, but we were able to start a Rock Steady boxing affiliate here in Dry Prong to help Parkinson’s patients.

Four ladies in their 70s walked in, and they said they wanted to join. That started the Coffee Club, which has about 50 members who are 60 and older. It gets people out of the house and keeps them going.

Then I met this group called “Teen Challenge.” The girls who finish the program told me that, after they transition out of Teen Challenge, they don’t have anywhere to go. So we bought the auditorium and the property on the other side of the road that’s part of the campus (the old Grant High School). We started Chesed House, which is a nonprofit for girls coming out of Teen Challenge, to give them transitional housing and work on campus.

We got hit by Hurricane Laura in 2020, and a tornado hit the campus and tore off every roof on campus. We sort of had to start over. In that process of rebuilding, we were able to build an indoor walking track for our people who have Parkinson’s and for elderly people.

Then we had another building that was just educational classes and computer rooms, and we gutted that out to make indoor soccer. We usually have 100 to 150 kids who are playing each season. 

When Grant Parish went to a four-day school week, kids were off on Mondays, so we started an out-of-school program. Finally, we started a nonprofit back in 2019 called B22 Sports Complex, which we are trying to renovate the ball fields and get grants for that. We have an old football field and an old softball/baseball field. 

We got a grant to build a new walking trail around the whole campus. We just had our first race. 

What does it mean to you to have watched this incredible center develop for your community? 

It was not planned. It was part of God’s plan and not mine. We’re just trying to help our community. That’s what it’s all about. Every day is a miracle to keep the lights on. 

B22 Fit remodel of Grant High School gymnasium. 

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What changes have you noticed in the community in the last five years?

It has drawn people together in our community and even inspired other communities around us to grow. We’ve helped another couple in the community open a gym in Montgomery out of an old school. 

It’s gotten people out of their houses. The older people’s doctors’ reports are coming back so much better. They have developed friendships, and it’s given so many people a reason just to keep on fighting against Parkinson’s.

It’s drawing families together. It’s giving kids a place to come and play that’s fun and safe. You can come and bike, you can skate, you can get out, you can exercise on the outdoor trail.

What do you hope people will take away from B22’s work in Grant Parish?

I am trying to inspire other people to take over abandoned property. This property was absolutely abandoned from 2011 to 2018, and it was an eyesore to the community. So many of these people went to school here, and this was such an important part of their lives.

My goal has been to try to get people to come back to Grant Parish and to make something that our kids would be proud of, so they would want to stay instead of leave.