Norwich Family YMCA

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More than just a fitness center

by: Jessica Lewis

With dozens of activities taking place at locations throughout Chenango County, the Norwich Family YMCA serves areas far outside of Norwich and offers a lot more than a fitness facility.

According to Jamey Mullen, YMCA executive director, the Norwich Family YMCA has grown to encompass a lot more than the bricks and mortar at the Norwich facility. With after school programs in Oxford, Unadilla Valley, Norwich and Bainbridge-Guilford, a YMCA supervised pool in Greene and facilities that are open to community organizations, the YMCA has become a significant part of life in Chenango County.

“Membership isn’t just about access to the fitness center,” Mullen said. “It’s also about a sense of community.”

The Y has been a part of the Norwich community since 1868, and since that time Mullen explained, “It has truly become a community organization and business.”

The last year has not been an easy one for the YMCA. After only a few years in the new facility, repairs and improvements due to faulty construction were required. In the last year, the new Y facility, which opened in 2002, received a new roof, a new track, new flooring in the gym, hallway and fitness center, mechanical components and additional installations of the heat exchange for the pool and whirl pool. “All of the improvements worked to protect our investments, and none of the expense had a direct effect on YMCA membership or program fees,” Mullen explained.

While building construction has been a big project at the Y in the past year, Mullen said the construction is nearing completion. “It will be nice to put the finishing touches on the building project and get back to what we do the best. Being available to the community at large is important to us. We’re excited to get back to some normalcy,” Mullen said.

President of the YMCA Board of Directors John Williams explained that while the construction was an issue, now that it is finished, heating costs should decrease, due to added insulation, and it will make for a better facility.

One of the big changes the YMCA has seen in the past year was partnering with the Norwich City School District to provide a Universal Pre-Kindergarten program. The class, which can hold a total of 15 children, currently is just below the maximum enrollment number with about 13 kids attending. The unique quality of the Y’s pre-K program is that children from outside of the Norwich School District are still able to enroll in the program. “It has been a good start to what we hope will be a long successful relationship with the school,” Mullen said.

The YMCA director pointed out that the three-year-old pre-school program, now in its 27th year, continues to thrive. Currently, that program serves 18 children. “One of the reasons we’re so successful is that we can offer swimming lessons, which is something that most other facilities can’t offer. It’s been an asset to the program,” Mullen said.

In the coming year, Mullen said the organization will be able to get back to their normal routine, but they also plan on making some changes. According to Williams , the Y is in the process of making a strategic plan for the organization. “The plan will help us develop an idea of where we want to be in three, five or seven years,” Williams said, explaining that the Y is currently finishing out the items identified in the last strategic plan, which included the plans for the new Y facility.

The Norwich Y has been working with two network consultants for the YMCA USA. The groups are helping to provide market analysis, demographic representations, market penetration studies and membership saturation statistics and surveys.

The information received should show where the facility needs to make changes and what kinds of changes need to be made. Mullen explained that statistical data shows the community is fortunate to have a YMCA. Due to population size and other factors, if no Y existed, the YUSA would advise against opening a YMCA in the Norwich community.

“One of the reasons we’ve been in the community for 145 years is because we have grown and changed to become what we have,” Mullen said. “We went from an operating budget of $600,000 16 years ago, to an operating budget of $1.4 million now without a huge increase in fees.” Mullen stated that he is confident the Norwich Family YMCA’s youth and teen membership rates were the lowest in the state, and he said there is a good chance they are one of the ten least expensive nationally. Mullen credited the initial trusts used to start the Y and the work of the Board of Trustees for that accomplishment.

“We wouldn’t have the facility we have today with out the Board of Trustees and the legacies and bequests of the individuals who donated money and created trusts for the YMCA,” Mullen said.

Fred Myers, the Chair of the Trustees explained that due to the responsible management of the trusts over the years, the Y was able to build the new facility. “We’ve had some difficulty with the building leaking and the floors, but there working on those in the current project and it’s almost done. Once that’s put to bed, we’ll be there to help support the Y and make sure it’s going in the right direction,” Myers said.

Myers and Mullen both expressed the fact that the business of the Y has changed over the years. “There are always challenges. Years ago, it was a simple business,” Myers said, explaining that the number of members had gone from approximately 2,200 when the old Y facility closed to 4,400 now, and the increase has brought a higher number of members who seek subsidies and scholarships. Myers remembered a previous director Stan Georgia calling local business men when a child didn’t have the funds for a scholarship. Today a fund raising campaign has been instituted to help meet the needs of the community.

Myers explained that while programs, activities and procedures may have changed, the Christian values on which the Y was based will always remain the same. “It’s a real plus for our community. I’m delighted that we are able to have a Y here and that people have the chance to use it,” Myers said.

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