MONROE – A new YMCA planned here locked in $450,000 Thursday from an international foundation, speeding up its fundraising effort to open the $9 million facility in early 2008.
The Snohomish County YMCA said it has received a $600,000 grant from the Seattle-based Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, which promotes global health, education and public libraries.
The Y will use $450,000 of the grant for the 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot facility on Fryelands Boulevard in the western end of Monroe, said Al Boren, Snohomish County YMCA vice president.
The $150,000 balance will be used to build a permanent office on Broadway in Everett for the YMCA’s Big Brothers Big Sisters branch, which now operates at a temporary place on Hewitt Avenue, Boren said. The group must raise an additional $750,000 for the project, and expects to start building the office in 2007.
“It’s a tribute to the communities, leaderships and growing Snohomish County,” Boren said of the grant.
The new Monroe center would have community meeting rooms, a gymnasium and a swimming pool with lockers and showers. The city has no public swimming pool and has discussed building one for decades.
The Monroe YMCA now runs its programs out of local schools.
The grant brings the total amount of money raised for the Monroe YMCA building to a little more than $3 million, Boren said. The city of Monroe signed a $1.9 million agreement in late October to buy free Y privileges for residents, including swimming hours, he said.
Businesses and individuals in the Skykomish Valley also have pledged donations, and a major fundraising campaign for the Monroe Y will kick off in March, Boren said.
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