STANWOOD — By summer, the YMCA of Snohomish County should know if the money is out there to buy property to build a Stanwood-Camano YMCA. The nonprofit organization has commissioned a funding study, bringing a new Y a step closer to reality.
The dream of a YMCA in north Snohomish County began a year ago when a private Stanwood gym closed the area’s only regulation-size pool. Community leaders rallied to look for a solution, especially for students in swim programs and for elderly people for whom swimming is ideal exercise.
Stanwood Mayor Dianne White has said that people in the area have long recognized the need for a community-based health and recreation facility, and that’s why she and others contacted the YMCA for help.
Because the Stanwood-Camano YMCA Organizing Committee has yet to choose a location for the proposed facility, a cost estimate has not been established, committee Chairwoman Theresa Metzger said. However, a new YMCA likely would cost millions of dollars, she said.
“So far, everything looks very positive. I think we will get our Y,” Metzger said. “Our community continues to be energized about this. People are stepping forward. And now that the YMCA is officially on board, it looks really, really good.”
YMCA of Snohomish County has placed its Everett staff on the project and plans to send Metzger to Anaheim, Calif., this month to attend a YMCA capital campaign seminar. It also has commissioned the Collins Group consulting agency to determine if enough fundraising potential exists.
All of this activity follows a survey last fall, paid for with donations to the organizing committee, that assessed the support for building a YMCA in Stanwood. The survey showed that most people who live within the Stanwood-Camano School District want a YMCA and would support it.
Membership projections at current YMCA price levels came in well beyond the 3,000 memberships usually needed to support a Y facility, Metzger said. The most requested feature desired in a YMCA was a multi-lane swimming pool, she said. Other top requests included a weight room, a water therapy pool, an indoor running track, group exercise classes, a gym and rooms for youth activities.
A lot of work has to be done to make the dream a reality, said Scott Sadler, county YMCA vice president and chief development officer directing the Stanwood effort.
The organizing committee’s site selection team is reviewing possible building sites in the city based on the YMCA requirements of 5 to 10 developable acres, good access and available city water and sewer lines. The results of the fall survey showed that either an uptown or a downtown location was agreeable to the community, Sadler said.
Other organizing teams are looking at program development and helping to decide what a YMCA in Stanwood would offer and how it would be designed.
The biggest challenge will be fundraising, Sadler and Metzger said.
Money will be sought from private, corporate, foundation and public sources, she said.
“This will be the biggest fundraising campaign our community has ever seen,” Metzger said. “The YMCA of Snohomish County has been a wonderful partner.”
The study about fundraising potential, which the YMCA is paying for, will help the organizing committee increase its chances of finding the money and encourage others to donate, Metzger said.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Join in
Additional volunteers are needed to support the effort.
To volunteer or to ask that a YMCA Organizing Committee member make a presentation for civic groups, contact the Stanwood-Camano Area Foundation at 360-629-6878, or go to the Stanwood-Camano YMCA website at www.ymca- snoco.org, then pull down the Locations menu and click on Stanwood-Camano Initiative.
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