Solid ground

Camp songs, rock-wall climbing and, of course, some digging were all part of the official ground breaking of the new Shoreline/South County YMCA on July 17.

Neighbors, city staff and state representatives gathered at the site on North 192nd Street and Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline at 4:30 p.m. to be part of the official celebration.

Beginning the event, YMCA board chair Matthew Fairfax said the process of building a new facility began 15 years ago with a request for a remodel of the existing facility on Northeast 175th Street. Over the past 10 years, efforts moved toward constructing a completely new YMCA .

The ground breaking also provided a time and place to publicly announce the facility’s name. YMCA board member Don Mallet announced that the 52,000-square-foot YMCA is dedicated to the late Reverend Dale Turner. A senior minister at the University Congregational Church and columnist for The Seattle Times, Turner resided in Lake Forest Park. He was elected to the Life Board of the YMCA of Greater Seattle for his dedication and service to the YMCA. Turner died in June 2006.

Describing Turner as a leader and an educator, Mallett said what Turner represented and brought to the YMCA are important in moving forward with the project.

Turner’s son, Greg, said naming the facility in his father’s honor “is a complete fit.”

“You are the kind of people who inspired Dad’s ministry,” he said. “What a wonderful tribute to him.”

A second announcement during the event came from executive vice president of SGA Corporation Brian Merisko, who said a building permit for the facility recently was acquired.

“You will be proud of this facility when we are done with it,” he said.

Expected to take about a year to construct, the $19.5 million YMCA will serve three times as many people as the existing facility and create 250 full and part-time jobs. Although falling just shy of a $4.5 million goal for community fund raising with $4.3 million by ground breaking, capital campaign co-chair Stephen Dunn said he is hopeful of reaching $4.7 million before a community fund raising phase begins in two months. A goal of $5.75 million was set as a local community fund raising goal.

While YMCA board members were credited with raising $1 million for the project, state representative Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, reminded those in attendance of $800,000 that was allocated to the Shoreline / South County YMCA in this year’s capital budget.

“It’s a strong statement on our part that we believe in the services the YMCA provides,” she said.

As part of the event, individuals representing different donors wore hard hats and picked up shovels. Following a drum roll, the group dug up dirt to the tune of the song “YMCA” performed by the David George Band. As a final exercise, individuals wrote down ways to personally contribute to the future success of the YMCA and group representatives left the ideas at the top of a rock climbing wall.

“My experience at the YMCA has been a catalyst for molding me into the person I am today,” Sandra Mukoli, youth campaign co-chair said. “The YMCA is an impetus to positive change … and has done so much for me and my friends.”