Y Gets A Facelift

This is Raleigh Mann.

In the 36 years the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Y has occupied a building on MLK Boulevard south of Estes Drive, it has grown to serve more than 7 thousand active members. That’s a thousand more than the entire population of Hillsborough. Every day, 465 members now use the building to stretch, lift, swim and run, among other things, to keep fit. It’s no wonder that the 44-thousand square foot building is getting a little tired.

So, the Y has embarked on a long overdue facelift that will expand its usable space and provide more equipment. It’s a big project, costing about a million dollars and lasting until January before it’s done. It will expand its space for working out and socializing, add equipment, centralize and improve office space and reshape many of its rooms to make them more flexible.

It’s time for the rest of us to take notice and appreciate the gifts that this place and its people bring to our community. A few numbers:

28 full-time and 235 part-time employees staff the Y and serve the people who use it. That’s not counting the more than 300 volunteers. That’s right, 300.

The Y serves 275 elementary and middle school children in after school programs. That’s not counting 550 kids at its 8 summer camps. When you add soccer, basketball, T-ball, volleyball and other programs, the Y serves more than 8 thousand children in our community every year.

Twice a week about 30 of us older folks work out together in a Silver Sneakers exercise class. On summer mornings, we wait outside the gym as dozens of happy kids improvise games inside. When 8:30 comes, it’s our turn to use the gym, the youngsters file out in pairs, heading for outside exercise and fun, and we see the wide range of our community’s ethnic diversity represented in their smiling faces.

The Y also does other good things most of us don’t know about, one of which is its Boomerang program, which offers academic and social assistance to students who are suspended from school for 3 to 10 days. This keeps teens from getting into more trouble by giving them a safe, welcoming place to go during their suspension.

Its Afterschool Outreach program offers low-income children receive tutorial help and a chance to have daily, fun after-school activities with other children.

We tend to complain about what’s wrong locally. Here’s something we all should celebrate, our YMCA and all the good it contributes to our community.