Editorial: South Brunswick YMCA needs community support
The South Brunswick Family YMCA needs your help.
The 8-year-old organization, in its second year in its Culver Road headquarters, is experiencing growing pains as it fights to keep up with a growing membership base and pay its expenses.
According to Gary S. Forshner, who is working on the YMCA fund-raising campaign, the organization needs help $28,000 by Feb. 25 paying its bills and meeting payroll in February and will need long-term financial support to meet its budget for 2003 and beyond.
That’s why it is turning to the public for help. All told, the Y relies on contributions from the community to cover between 2½ percent and 5 percent of its budget slated to reach about $2.3 million in 2003. That’s a significant chunk of its operating costs, but not an insurmountable number to raise.
According to Y officials, the organization lost money in 2001 and 2002, the first two years in its new building, but hopes to break even in 2003 consistent with other YMCAs which tend to lose money for the first two years in a new facility.
But every month remains a struggle, especially the winter months when program membership is at its lowest and revenue is hardest to come by.
The YMCA has five types of memberships: A family membership at $74 per month, an individual adult membership at $55 per month, a senior (62 and older) membership at $46 per month, a teen (13-17) membership at $14 per month and a youth (up to 13) program membership at $40 per year. Program memberships are for children enrolling in programs but not taking advantage of other YMCA facilities. There also is a one-time building fee charged to new members of $80 for adults and seniors, $35 for teens and $95 for families.
To date, 425 families, 125 individual adults, 76 seniors and 60 teens have signed up up about 50 percent from January 2002. Another 1,650 children have enrolled for individual programs.
It is important to note that the Y does not turn away anyone seeking to join or to participate in its programs for financial reasons it provides assistance on a sliding scale to families and individuals in need, which eats into its revenue but is in keeping with its mission of being a community resource.
So it is reaching out to the community with its Building Blocks Campaign. People or businesses who donate at least $250 will have a red clay brick inscribed with a name or message and permanently affixed to the Y’s lobby wall. For a contribution of between $100 and $249, the donor will have his or her name grouped with other donors.
We would encourage local residents and businesses to rise to the occasion, to step up and help the YMCA keep fulfilling its mission, "to build spirit, mind and body," and to help it grow into the future.
It is this future that Y officials want the community to focus on: the potential expansion of its 19,000-square-foot facility to make use of an additional 13,000 square feet of unused space in the building, including a full-size indoor swimming pool and construction of ball fields, day camp areas, trails and possibly even an outdoor pool on its 26-acre parcel. Currently, the Y is using only a small portion of its property.
But there can be no future unless local residents and businesses help the YMCA secure its present.

