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The prospect of having a YMCA organization and facility in Wells County has been in the exploratory phase for just about six months. While no final determination will be made in the near future, the groups involved in the process are excited and hopeful that it will come to full fruition.
In fact, a full-time executive director who will organize initial programs and drum up local support for an ongoing effort will hopefully be in place by summer’s end.
A “Managing Board” was established earlier this year, and charged with the responsibility of investigating the feasibility of the “Y” coming to Wells County and then moving efforts forward. The group made an official visit Monday afternoon to the YMCA facility in Columbia City.
The possibility of the YMCA coming to Bluffton and Wells County was first raised to the Caylor-Nickel Foundation board of directors in 2006, as they worked in anticipation of the expiration of the grant that has funded Operation Wellness. Operation Wellness has organized and supervised a number of excercise and nutritional awareness events and groups since 2003, when the local foundation, in cooperation with Ball State University, obtained a $400,000 grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. That grant expires in June.
With that in mind, executive director John Stead explained, the C-N foundation contacted the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne to see if they had an interest in coming to Wells County. “It turned out they had had Wells County on their radar for future development, so our call was very timely,” Stead explained.
Since the first of this year, the foundation’s board has met several times with the regional officials, a study team came to Bluffton to interview community leaders and the managing board was organized to further the process.
Wells County community leaders serving on that board include Mike Ankenbruck, Dr. George Babcock, Dr. Gina Berridge, Tom Clark, Pam Cobble, Jeremy Collins, Rod Craft, Tony Garton, Lori Gehring, Jim Jackson, Julie Koschnick, Trout Moser, Neil Potter, John Stead, Jeremy Todd and John Whicker. At their organizational meeting in February, the board elected Collins as chairman, Clark as vice-chairman, Moser as treasurer and Gehring to serve as board secretary.
Stead, who had spearheaded the effort to organize Operation Wellness and obtain the Robert Woods Johnson grant, has led the Caylor-Nickel Foundation’s efforts in coordinating efforts with the YMCA.
“They have a number of programs that will fill the void of Operation Wellness after the grant runs out,” Stead explained. Although the grant officially expires at the end of June, Stead sated that there are funds to provide for the summer “Boot Camp” and to support the Mileage Club at local schools through the 2007-08 school year.
“The adult programs will have to have a fee involved, however,” Stead explained. These programs, which include a senior exercise program, adult aerobics and a body toning class, typically slow down during the summer months. “When things pick up again this fall, we’ll have time to work out how these activities will go forward,” Stead said.
How those activities will evolve will be determined by a full time YMCA executive director for Wells County, who will hopefully be in place in August or September. This person will, a least initially, be an employee of the Greater Fort Wayne YMCA but their focus will be entirely on developing the Wells County YMCA.
“We’re working with some local sources as well as the Fort Wayne office in order to get this position funded,” Stead explained. This person may be starting on a part-time basis as early as yet this month, it was learned during the board’s visit to the Columbia City facility.
Marty Pastura, CEO of the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne, is excited about the prospects in Wells County. “We have an excellent facility and operations in Columbia City that will work well as a model for Wells County,” he stated. “If the feedback we get during the coming months is as good as we expect, there’s no reason we cannot offer the YMCA’s full services to Wells County in three or four years.”
The usual procedure in getting a new YMCA established follows one of three “business models.” The first is to set up a full-time director as a “go-to” person with an office in the county, who then organizes programs in existing community facilities, charging a fee for programs. These initial offerings will be quite similar to existing operation Wellness programs.
A second option, or step, would be to renovate an existing facility to offer classes, exercise sessions and other activities for families. The third step would be to build a “full-facility YMCA” that would include a wellness area, gymnasium, pool, meeting rooms, locker rooms, and child care rooms.
While the Greater Fort Wayne YMCA will provide logistical support, funding for facilities will have to come from local sources. The determination of that feasibility and the fund raising efforts will come from the managing board.
“The key component, of course, is whether people will pay monthly membership fees to take advantage of what the Y offers,” stated managing board chairman Collins. But after visiting the Blackford County YMCA recently, Collins is confident that Wells County can support a YMCA. “They have excellent membership numbers in a smaller county than ours.”
Board secretary Lori Gehring, vice president and head of lending at Ossian State Bank, likes what she sees in the YMCA. “I liked the idea when I was called and asked to serve, but I have to admit I didn’t know alot about the YMCA.” Gehring has learned that the organization is Christian-based, family-oriented, and is focused on promoting good health.
“This is important for our community and important to be involved in,” she said.
Collins also pointed to the economic development benefits of having a YMCA in the community. “It’s a great attraction for potential employers,” he said. “It shows that we as a community are growing and prospering.”
The prospect of a YMCA in Bluffton is equally welcome news to Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis. “The announcement of plans to bring a YMCA to Bluffton is good news for families in Wells County,” Ellis said. “I first met with representatives of the Greater Fort Wayne YMCA a number of months ago as they first investigated establishing a facility in Bluffton. I found them to be well-organized and financially sound. Their experience in other communities demonstrates their ability to establish and sustain facilities in cities such as ours.”
Ellis continued, “Having a ‘Y’ in Bluffton is one more building block in improving the quality of life in our community.”
Stead describes the Caylor-Nickel Foundation’s role in the process as a “catalyst” to bring the YMCA to Wells County. “If anyone can be in a position to spearhead this effort both as an organization and financially, it would be the Foundation,” he stated. Stead sees his organization as a continuing leader in the effort, with perhaps future proceeds from the annual Autumn Classic golf outing going toward membership scholarships for families, or grants to help support the health programs at the YMCA.
The YMCA’s initial office for the executive director will be housed in the Caylor-Nickel Foundation’s offices on Scott Street, Stead indicated.
The Caylor-Nickel Foundation had been the fund-raising arm of the former Caylor-Nickel Medical Center. When the hospital was sold in 2000 to a corporation and became the Bluffton Regional Medical Center, that function ceased to exist, and the local foundation then turned its efforts to promote health in the community, culminating in landing the Robert Wood Johnson grant to fund Operation Wellness.
More information about the YMCA’s structure, programs and fees are in a separate story.
If a Wells County YMCA becomes the reality that is hoped, modeling on the Columbia City building would produce a facility that “all of Wells County would be proud of.”
That was the verbalized consensus of a group from the Wells County YMCA Managing Board, volunteers who have accepted the task of determining the feasibility of establishing a YMCA in Wells County and moving that process forward. A group of eight members of the managing board toured the Whitley County facility Monday afternoon.
The Columbia City building was originally constructed ten years ago at a cost of $2 million and recently had a $1 million expansion project completed. The 35,000 square foot building includes a gymnasium, Olympic-sized swimming pool, a fitness center, dance and aerobic exercise rooms, walking track, a child care center, a game room and a community room, in addition to ample locker room facilities.
Touring the facilities Monday were managing board members Jeremy Collins, John Whicker, Mike Ankenbruck, Dr. George Babcock, Lori Gehring, Jim Jackson, Jeremy Todd and John Stead.
“There’s always a concern that the YMCA competes with certain other businesses and organizations,” Marty Pastura, CEO of the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne, explained to the group. “But we have established an excellent relationship with other groups in Columbia City and they now contact us about coordinating with and sometimes even overseeing their activities.”
Pastura cited several instances of the Colmbia City YMCA working with their local hospital, parks and recreation department and schools.
John Stead, executive director of the Caylor-Nickel Foundation, which has been the group that has been the catalyst in discussions with the YMCA about coming to Wells County, explained that while such organizations as a Boys & Girls Club is focused solely on youth, the YMCA has programs for entire families.
“There are plenty of examples of communities that have a Boys & Girls Club and a YMCA that receive ample support from the community,” Stead said. “This also applies to private exercise clubs that can and do co-exist with YMCA’s.”
The YMCA’s mission, “To put Christian principles into practice ...” was quite apparent throughout the Columbia City facility, as were the four character traits that the YMCA heavily promotes: “caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility.”
Those four words can be found in various forms throughout the building, and Bible verses are painted on at least one wall in each room.
The Whitley County organization has an annual budget of nearly $1 million. The bulk of that budget, about 70 percent, is supported by membership fees, with nearly another 25 percent coming from program fees. The facility receives contributions of less than $25,000 a year and just over $5,000 in foundation grants. Their budget does include $13,500 in interest income from an endowment fund established during the club’s initial fund raising drive.
“We have not been dependent on any funding from the United Way,” Pastura told the group.
The Columbia City YMCA currently has nearly 4,000 members, with 1,492 “member units.” A member unit may include a single person, such as a Student Member or a Single Adult, but could include an entire family of as a Family Unit. That group is the biggest component of the Columbia City mix, with 614 Family membership units on the roles.
Wells and Whitley Counties are statistically comparable. According to the Indiana University Kelly School of Business statistics, Wells County’s current population is 28,199 while Whitley County counts 32,556. Bluffton’s city population of 9,460 is a bit higher than Columbia City’s 8,024.
A breakout of current membership rates accompanies this story. These rates are the same at any of the Greater Fort Wayne YMCA locations, and entitle the member use of any of the five Fort Wayne facilities as well as Columbia City.
“Initial membership fees as the Wells County YMCA ramps up will be determined,” Pastura told the group Monday. “It will depend on what we are offering at the time in Wells County, but people can also opt to pay the full membership fees and then use the Fort Wayne facilities.”
The Whitley County facility has six full time employees and 55 part-time workers. “We also depend alot on volunteers, particularly coaches in our youth sports programs,” reported Amy Shaw, membership director at the facility. She estimates that throughout the year, 75-100 volunteers are utilized, many of whom are members.
According to current literature provided by the YMCA, membership fees entitle members to:
— Free aerobics and fitness classes
— Free use of free weights and machine weights
— Free orientation and use of Wellness Center for ages 15 and older
— Free indoor running and walking track
— Free child care while you work out
— Free open youth, teen and adult basketball
— Free open swim for adults and families
— Free guest passes
— Free or reduced fees when using YMCA’s outside of Allen and Whitley Counties
— Free Active Older Adults & SilverSneakers (Fitness programs for eligible members)
— Reduced rates on other programs and priority registration for all programs.
A current newsletter for members was provided to the group Monday, which included four pages of programs ranging from aquatic and wellness programs to activities specifically for seniors, adults, youth, youth sports and a Summer Day Camp variety of programs.
The YMCA’s literature is heavily peppered with their goals and emphasis on Christian values. The organization’s “first commitment is to the personal development of each participant,” a brochure states.
The YMCA focuses on developing “strong kids, strong families and strong communities.” The organization provides “safe places for kids and teach them how to resolve conflicts without violence.” YMCA Youth Programs are aimed to “help kids build self-esteem, practice leadership skills and develop decision-making skills.”
“We work in partnership with schools and local organizations to meet our community needs,” a brochure summarizes. “Volunteerism is essential in the YMCA. Our success stems from community leaders that want to give back to the community through volunteering.”
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