YMCA needs to remember its mission of service

When we moved to Pottstown from Florida 18 months ago, I had a hard time adjusting — Pennsylvania was cold, and I missed my friends. I knew I need two things to ease my sense of loss: friends and exercise. After touring several fitness facilities, I asked my husband if we could join the Y. “The Y is expensive,” he said. “It would be cheaper to join a gym.” But I love the Y, I explained. I swam for my Y in high school. When the kids were little, the Y was a godsend — I exercised while they went to on-site childcare. The Pottstown Y, I told my husband, is great — we can work out and play basketball, there are classes, they have two pools and a whirlpool ...” My husband stopped me at “whirlpool,” and we joined the Y the following day.

During the intervening months, the Y has become more to us than facilities and programs: the Y is community. We quickly made friends with seniors gathered in the Y’s common area and look forward to their friendly greetings. After my first Zumba class left me in tears missing Florida, I was embraced by the instructor and every class participant. My husband talks sports with other men in the locker room, learning to be an Eagles and Phillies fan.

Every day at the Y, we see people from all walks of life, some who look like us and some who don’t. We see babies, children, teens, parents and seniors. At the Y, we move beyond differences to become family. We marvel at this magical meeting place where we come together, crossing political, racial, generational, and income barriers. We have one thing in common: we are all Pottstown YMCA members.

This common bond, this community of the Pottstown Y, unites us, giving us purpose and connection. And since the Y is a gathering place, it makes sense that a building is necessary. In fact, to say that a community can have a Y without a building is as ridiculous as saying a family can have a home without a house.

We didn’t join the Pottstown Y to have it closed months later by Philadelphia Freedom Valley Association leadership. We didn’t join the Pottstown Y to fund the salaries of overpaid Association executives. We didn’t join the Pottstown Y to have decisions about our Y made unilaterally by those who are not stakeholders in our community. We didn’t join the Pottstown Y to have its funding stripped to further the process of closing other community Ys in favor of building “country club” Ys.

We joined the Y because we believe in the Y, its mission, and sense of community it fosters. We joined the Y because of its non-profit status, knowing that our membership helps others join the Y community, too. We joined knowing we were paying more but would be richer for being part of the Pottstown Y community.

I am proud to be part of this community, a resident of Pottstown, and a member of the Pottstown Y. I am moved by the courage of the Transition Committee in doing what is right rather than bowing to pressure from the Philadelphia Association. I applaud community members who have spent countless hours researching this issue, bringing to light the Philadelphia Association’s neglect and mismanagement of our resources.

Finally, I pray that those who most need this Y — the teens on bikes and on foot coming to play basketball, the seniors gathering for exercise and companionship, the single moms needing accessible and reliable childcare, those without transportation who rely on the Ys facilities, members without the financial means to join a gym — that they are heard and respected as members of a community that cares for its people and a Y that cares about them, and remembers its mission of service.