Their numbers are low and they don’t have a home to call their own.

What the Tahoma High gymnastics team does have, however, is a plan.

That plan begins with Saturday’s customer appreciation fund-raiser at Millwork Outlet, located just south of Safeway on Maple Valley-Black Diamond Highway.

“We’re just trying to get the ball rolling,” said coach Laura Morceau, who will be entering her second season with the team when practices begin in November. “Hopefully, we will have some more fundraisers throughout the year.”

No doubt, any funding the Tahoma High team can muster on Saturday will be welcome. Unlike its South Puget Sound League counterparts, the Bears don’t have a facility they can call their own. In fact, during the season – and in stark contrast with their league peers – the Bears practice before school, usually from 5:30-7 a.m., at Summit Gymnastics in Maple Valley. In addition, the team still is competing in old leotards and warm-ups.

The Bears don’t have any equipment to call their own, either.

“We have no equipment, no gym and no space,” Morceau succinctly put it. “We rent space (at Summit), where there is pretty nice equipment. We inherited old (leotards) and warmups. Eventually … in the future, we’ll have some equipment for the gym we work out in. But it’s going to take awhile.”

And, of course, it’s going to take some money to improve the program’s financial future. That future begins with various fundraisers, such as Saturday’s at Millwork Outlet, which specializes in selling doors, windows, mantels and moulding among other building material. The fundraiser goes from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and will include various construction-themed events for customers.

The gymnastics team also will help spearhead a car wash in the back parking lot of the store and will help host a barbecue that will include free soda, hot dogs and Otter Pops.

“The big thing is, we just want to get the team noticed,” said Morceau, who teaches science at Tahoma Junior High.

That being the case, the future does indeed look brighter these days for the Bears, who didn’t have any seniors among the 22 girls on the squad. Matter of fact, despite the team’s youth and lack of a real home, Tahoma finished 11th in the 14-team SPSL a year ago.

“Most schools have two to three-hour workouts,” Morceau said. “We have an hour and a half because we have to have it in the morning. Having a shorter workout time to come in 11th out of 14 is amazing.”