Support Y’s building projects

As the YMCA of Snohomish County builds new facilities in the next few years for the Stanwood-Camano Island area and for Everett, expect to see the building of healthier communities at the same time.

The YMCA was invited in 2010 in a grass-roots effort that sought to build a pool and other facilities in Stanwood when an existing pool there closed. The Y expects to break ground on a new facility this summer in the city’s uptown neighborhood in Stanwood Village, with the facility possibly opening a year later.

Still early in planning is a new facility for Everett. With its original building nearing the century mark and its last major addition in the 1980s, the Everett YMCA’s building struggles to meet the needs of the community as a center for personal fitness and aquatics, health programs, child care and development and teen involvement. Everett is growing and the new facility is needed to keep pace and serve its residents.

Retrofitting the existing building would be too costly, so the YMCA is planning a new facility either at its present location or elsewhere in Everett, possibly at the Everett School District’s former offices on the 4800 block of Colby Avenue. Construction work for a new facility in Everett could begin in 2018.

Stanwood-Camano is well on its way in securing the funding for its project. In short order, a fundraising campaign has already raised $8 million for the estimated $18 million project, said YMCA President and CEO Scott Washburn. Requests for major donations are continuing, and the Y expects to begin a broader-based outreach to the community for its investment into the project. As another $4 million is raised that should be enough for a green-light for construction, Washburn said.

Everett’s fundraising, the YMCA CEO said, will begin with a “quiet” phase, requests to corporations and individuals for significant donations.

If the YMCA’s facilities in Everett, Marysville, Mill Creek, Monroe and Mukilteo were just fitness centers and swimming pools, it might be something that could be left to private businesses to provide rather than a nonprofit organization. But the Y’s facilities provide much of the revenue that allows the organization to do a great deal more throughout the county, even in communities without a Y.

The YMCA of Snohomish County provides affordable child care for more than 1,150 children daily before and after classes at schools throughout the county and at its early childhood education centers in Everett and Mill Creek. Its Diabetes Prevention Program provides information to discourage a growing health concern for adults. Its support of Big Brothers Big Sisters connects at-risk children with caring adult mentors. Its adaptive programs involve developmentally disabled children and adults in fitness, art and cooking classes. It leads classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages. And, of course, it teaches swimming and water safety to kids.

Donations to the YMCA for its programs and its capital campaigns make our communities healthier, stronger, attractive to companies looking to bring or add jobs here and, ultimately, more enjoyable places to live.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

RGB version
Editorial cartoons for Monday, March 18

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Carson gets a chance to sound the horn in an Everett Fire Department engine with the help of captain Jason Brock during a surprise Make-A-Wish sendoff Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Thornton A. Sullivan Park in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Everett voters will set course for city finances

This fall and in coming years, they will be asked how to fund and support the services they use.

Devotees of TikTok, Mona Swain, center, and her sister, Rachel Swain, right, both of Atlanta, monitor voting at the Capitol in Washington, as the House passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app if its China-based owner doesn't sell, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Lawmakers contend the app's owner, ByteDance, is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok's consumers in the U.S. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Editorial: Forced sale of TikTok ignores network of problems

The removal of a Chinese company would still leave concerns for data privacy and the content on apps.

Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, watches the State of the State speech by Gov. Jay Inslee on the second day of the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Editorial: Legislature has its own production of ‘The Holdovers’

What state lawmakers left behind in good ideas that should get more attention and passage next year.

Comment: Measles outbreaks show importance of MMR vaccinations

The highly contagious disease requires a 95 percent vaccination rate to limit the spread of outbreaks.

Harrop: Should ‘affordable’ come at cost of quality of living?

As states push their cities to ignore zoning rules, the YIMBYs are covering for developers.

Saunders: Classified document cases show degrees of guilt

President Biden’s age might protect him, but the special prosecutor didn’t exonerate him either.

Comment: Clearing the internet of misinformation, deep fakes

With social networks’ spotty moderation record, users need to identify and call out problems they see.

Eco-Nomics: Price of gas, fossil fuels higher than you think

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels force unseen costs in climate disasters, illness and more.

Vote against I-2117 to keep best tool to protect climate

We voters will be offered the opportunity to repeal Washington state’s Climate… Continue reading

Lack of maternal health care raises risks of deadly sepsis

In today’s contentious climate, we often hear political debates about maternal health… Continue reading

Trump’s stance on abortion isn’t moderate; it’s dangerous

Voters deserve to know the facts and the truth about what will… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.