YMCA prepares to celebrate 90 years thanks to community support, outstanding leadership, and quality services and programs
“Three essential items are needed for a community organization to remain viable, significant, and relevant,” said Keith Lands, executive director of the Tuscarawas County YMCA at Dover. “They are community support, outstanding leadership, and quality services and programs. The Tuscarawas County YMCA has been blessed with all three over its entire 90-year history.”The YMCA will commemorate its history with a 90th anniversary celebration Dec. 29, at 1 p.m. The celebration will include a cake cutting, door prizes, and the sealing of a time capsule. Photos spanning the organization’s 90-year history will also be on display. Tom Patton, retired executive director, will also be present.
“In 10 years, we’ll open [the time capsule] back up and see how much has changed and I’m sure it will be a lot,” said Kathleen Johnson, marketing director. “We’re having our after-school program write letters to our after-school program in our 100th year.”
Throughout the month of December, the YMCA has had history trivia and members have been able to enter into the drawing for the 90 door prizes to be given away Dec. 29. The top door prize is a one-year YMCA membership.
Reviewing the history photos, Johnson sees one of the Tuscarawas County YMCA’s strongest periods as the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1971, the organization moved from its original building on North Tuscarawas Avenue in Dover to its current location on Monroe Street in Dover. Since 1971, the facility has undergone four additions, thanks to generous community support.
Since 1919, donations from the community have totaled close to $6,000,000, Lands stated. Top foundation support has come from the Reeves Foundation, the Marsh Family and the United Way.
Johnson sees many changes over the coming years, particularly that of the organization’s reach expanding beyond the brick and mortar of their Monroe Street building. “In the next 10 years, we’re going to see environmental changes here,” she explained.
The YMCA plans to further their involvement with HealthyTusc, a collaborative task force to improve the health of Tuscarawas County. This includes looking at how to better use the green space in the county and how and where to better structure health events such as 5K and 10K runs.
“There [are] going to be a lot of people out there working toward those same goals and I think we are going to see Tuscarawas County become healthier…which is what the YMCA has been after for 90 years since they began,” Johnson said.
Lands credited his organization’s visionary leadership in enabling the YMCA to evolve to the changing health needs of Tuscarawas County. “It was only through visionary leadership and dedicated individuals that the YMCA has been able to grow and meet the challenges of the community as it has changed over 90 years.”
The Tuscarawas County YMCA has an edge over other fitness facilities, because “when you’re a Y member…it isn’t just a gym you belong to,” Johnson said. “Many of our members take it to the next level. They become part of a board, they become committed to an organization that helps serve youth in the community.”
Lands added that thousands of volunteers have dedicated their time to the YMCA during its 90-year history. They have served in a variety of roles, such as class instructors, coaches, officials, and more.
“It is that mission of service that has made the YMCA an organization that has lasted the test of time and has reached its 90th anniversary. A mission of character development for all persons, regardless of their ability or resources, has been the focus since its beginning in 1919,” he said.
Countless part-time and full-time staff have dedicated their careers to this mission of service as well.
One of the YMCA’s biggest future challenges is keeping the health seeker motivated, Johnson explained. “The health seeker is someone who knows they need to live a better lifestyle, knows they have [the] opportunity to do it, but has trouble making that lifestyle change,” she said.
Health seekers sometimes are able to keep a short-term health commitment, but eventually encounter some roadblocks and stop making progress. The YMCA’s challenge in working with them is to “really be able to adjust that thinking, that [health] has to be a lifestyle change,” Johnson continued.
She hopes YMCA members and guests come away from the anniversary celebration with “a sense of accomplishment. I hope they cherish what they have. [For] this organization to be 90 years strong in the county, that’s pretty amazing.”