After adding on and making do for more than three decades, the White Rock/Lake Highlands YMCA is ready to spread its wings.
This "Y" began its existence in the late 1950s in the McShan Florists on Garland Road. Within a few years, the "Y" began building its current facility across from Lochwood Mall at Garland Road and Lochwood Boulevard. That site was completed in the 1960s, before the population boom in our area. Today, the needs far outstrip the capabilities of the current building.
Three years ago, Lake Highlands resident Elliot Stephenson noticed a sign on a vacant lot at Greenville and Stults Road: New Lake Highlands Family YMCA to be built here. A management consultant who both works and lives in the Stults area, Stephenson called and volunteered to help.
"I believe that it was something that our neighborhood clearly needed – something that youths, families and older people could all benefit from," he says now.
Several committees of volunteers are working to make the new YMCA a reality. These committees, together with the architectural firm Corgan Associates, have been busy analyzing other, similar facilities in the United States and Canada to determine how to make the best use of space and design to build a state-of-the-art facility.
The facilities committee, chaired by Lake Highlands resident Pat Kunz, is working with the architects toward a design that will best suit the community. An indoor pool, available for members year-round, is only one of the features in the works.
Dean Vanderbilit, a chairman on the fund-raising committee, says the fund-raising begins with pledges.
"We first have to raise $630,000 in pledges. At that point, the Metropolitan YMCA will give a matching gift of $1.9 million," he says.
"So we began by asking for major donations to get us started. There are opportunities for major donors to have portions of the new facility, such as the gymnasium or other rooms, named for them or to memorialize a loved one." So far, major donations make up about a third of the pledged amount.
When the "Y" reaches its intial monetary goal for the new facility, a gala groundbreaking will be held. Soon after, the committee hopes to expand the fund-raising to the families and small businesses that will benefit most from the new facility.
Says Stephenson, chairman of the board of management, "The YMCA is more than just a building – it’s a place where the community has a chance to come together and enjoy the benefits of living in this wonderful area."
