SHORELINE — Saying goodbye to the Shoreline/ South County Family YMCA might be hard for Terry Pollard. After all, he has been employed as executive director for close to seven years.
But it also might be hard to miss the daily commute from his home in Bellevue.
“I live in Bellevue, so I will be coming home to work in my own community,” Pollard said. “The key decider was that the commute has gotten worse.”
Pollard, 45, will officially be saying goodbye to his staff at the Shoreline facility today, Friday, Sept. 3. He is transferring to the Bellevue Family YMCA, where he will be executive director at a substantially larger facility, beginning Sept. 13.
“It has been a long time and has gone so fast,” Pollard said. “But I could see staying here much longer.”
Pollard grew up in Shoreline, and attended Shoreline High School. He began his career at the Shoreline/ South County Family YMCA when he was attending college at the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in ethnic musicology.
He was employed with child care services for 2 1/2 years and later worked with youth programs and sports before switching to administrative work. He eventually worked at the Highline YMCA in Burien as executive director before coming back to Shoreline.
Pollard will continue to provide support to the staff as a new executive director is hired. A national search has been undertaken and closes Sept. 15. A new director is expected to be hired by the end of October or first of November, he said.
Pollard’s position entails fundraising, managing finances and working with the community. He leaves at a rather exciting time at the YMCA, with tentative plans to build a new, larger facility.
“We are smaller but have great dreams,” Pollard said. “We do a lot with what we have.”
In the seven years he has been at the Shoreline/ South County YMCA, which serves areas of Shoreline and Edmonds School districts, Pollard said the child care services in the Edmonds School District have more than doubled and programs with middle school and high school teens have increased.
“That has been a priority area of mine,” Pollard said about the teen programs. “It is what makes this branch tick.”
Courtney Whitaker, program executive at the YMCA, has worked with Pollard for more than three years and said he will be missed by the staff.
“We are sad for us and happy for him,” Whitaker said. “He will be missed as a supervisor, a friend, and for what he has done.”
Whitaker said Pollard has built an amazing staff team in his time at the YMCA, and because of the great employees, they will still be able to operate without him.
“He has done a lot for the community,” Whitaker said. “He left a good legacy.”
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