In Shoreline and Lake Forest Park yards on Oct. 27, signs appeared in support of the new 52,000-square-foot YMCA currently being constructed on 192nd Street in Shoreline.
Individuals and families were able to pick up a sign, purchase charter memberships to the new facility and participate in activities at the “Raise the Roof” YMCA event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Echo Lake Park.
“We’re introducing this great new facility we’re building to the community,” Alice Kaderlan, vice president of communications for the Shoreline/South CountyYMCA said at the event.
Throughout the four-hour event, community members familiarized themselves with the layout of the new Dale Turner Family YMCA through colored maps. Kids played with Legos and painted pumpkins. Families watched dancing and jump roping routines while eating barbequed burgers and hotdogs. And groups of hardhat clad individuals took hayrides out to the construction site.
“This will be a great asset to the community,” Pearl Noreen, a board member for the YMCA and co-chair of the capital campaign, said on her way out to the construction site. “We knew when we found it that this was the perfect site.”
The plan for the first floor of the new YMCA includes a 25-yard handicapped-accessible pool, a full-size gym, a pinnacle climbing wall, a youth development center, family locker rooms and group exercise rooms. The second floor will feature an adventure zone for children ages 5 to 12, the Kids Corner for infants and toddlers, a Family Center, a healthy lifestyle room, cardio space and a community kitchen.
Lisa Painter brought her three-year-old son, Harry, to the event. As Harry gets older she said, her family will become more interested in some of the YMCA’s Adventure Guides or outdoor programs.
“I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t enjoyed Camp Orkila,” Painter said. “I definitely have it on the radar.”
While her three-year-old twins, Will and Lindsey, jumped on a giant inflatable, Katy Hiett said she is looking forward to having a community center near her home.
“We can take the kids and my husband and I can work out while they’re playing,” she said.
At the end of the introductory event, the Hiett family owned one of three hundred memberships that were issued throughout the afternoon. Although short of reaching the day’s $50,000 goal, a total of $30,000 in donations was added to the project’s capital campaign.
One million dollars will be raised for the community portion of the project’s capital campaign before the completion of the Dale Turner Family YMCA in fall 2008.
Discounted memberships are available throughout July 2008. Additional information about the new YMCA is available at www.seattleymca.org/daleturner.
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