$2 million challenge spurs YMCA effort
By Carol South, Special to Traverse City Record Eagle, Monday, October 24, 2011, Front Page
TRAVERSE CITY — An anonymous donor is staking $2 million on a vision: a groundbreaking ceremony in January for the new Grand Traverse Bay YMCA. Within 18-24 months of that date, the community will begin enjoying a new 104,000-square-foot facility on Silver Lake Road in Garfield Township.
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| Thanks to an anonymous $2 million challenge, the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA capital campaign has issued a Pledge Challenge between now and Dec. 31. Here, Joseph Van Deinse, YMCA tennis pro, helps C.J. Shoults, 10, during a Tourney Team practice at the current facility on Racquet Club Drive. Special to the Record-eagle/Carol South |
The multimillion dollar gauntlet is geared to spur donations toward the facility’s capital campaign, which had slowed about halfway toward the $12 million goal for the Y Essential Phase.
This phase will create a full-service recreational facility featuring swimming, tennis and fitness facilities, including six indoor tennis courts and multiple pools as well as fitness areas.
“We’re hoping for the fall of 2013, which will be our 50th year,” said CEO Tom Van Deinse of the new facility’s anticipated grand opening. “For sure full opening in January 2014.”
To make this ambitious dream come true, capital campaign officials last week announced an intense $2 Million Pledge/Challenge. They have 69 days to raise the capital campaign’s remaining $3.5 million or lose the pledge. The challenge has already prompted some longtime supporters to increase their offerings. The Oleson Foundation, for example, boosted its donation by $300,000.
“It’s an exciting challenge, the donor really believes that a new YMCA is needed in this community,” said Henry Peet, Grand Traverse Bay YMCA’s New Y Campaign chairperson. “The goal is reachable and we’re very much hoping that it can be done by the end of the year.”
The YMCA partners with the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation to conduct and administer the capital campaign. Donations to date allowed the YMCA last year to complete two athletic fields as well as parking, landscaping and an electronic sign. The fields have been used the past two seasons for Pop Warner football, soccer and lacrosse.
It’s a critical time for the 2,000-member organization, where every pledge over the next 10 weeks is crucial.
“Since the challenge came out, we’ve had some more donations,” added Peet.
The Grand Traverse Bay YMCA has roots dating to a 1963 Front St. storefront. After some early struggles in the 1970s, the organization purchased and moved into its current facility on Racquet Club Drive in 1985.
From there, athletic fields at the new location and a gymnastics/daycare facility, the YMCA now runs 65 programs and serves about 11,000-12,000 people. Van Deinse estimates that this figure will grow in the new facility to 31,000 from throughout the five-county region.
The pool additions could also save lives: YMCA statistics show that 40 percent of seventh-graders in the region “can’t swim 25 yards to save their life or the life of a friend.” Projections estimate that Grand Traverse Bay’s YMCA aquatics program will teach more than 2,000 kids to swim annually.
No longer will Van Deinse or other employees or volunteers field the stunned question: “Where’s the pool?”
“People say, ‘You’re kidding, you don’t have a pool here?’” said Van Deinse, who assumed leadership of the organization in 1999.
The Shoults family of Traverse City are heavy users of the current YMCA facility who look forward to the new building. Jennifer Shoults, of Traverse City, has two sons — C.J., 10, and Mace, 8, — on the YCMA’s Tourney tennis team. Between their training and her workouts, the family is frequently on site. “I grew up going to a Y and when my oldest expressed an interest in tennis, we came here,” she said. “The program here is amazing. I like it that they care not just about the tennis, but they care about the kids.”
For more information about the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA, call 946-9622 or see www.gtbayymca.org. For more information on the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA’s capital campaign, or to donate, contact the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation at 935-4066 or see www.4good4ever.org.
