CRESTVIEW — YMCA members and staffers are coming to terms with the downtown facility's unexpected closure.
'WE ARE A FAMILY'
“We were all shocked and saddened … we heard the words, but we couldn’t process it,” Susan Hill, a YMCA fitness instructor, said.
Exercising while socializing with friends was a part of Hill’s daily routine.
“This is what we do; we come here every day and we work out,” Hill said. “We are a family in every way; we support each other on a lot of levels.”
Laura Wellborn, who also worked part-time at the Crestview location, said working out with friends was therapeutic.
“I came out of emotional and medical conditions because of (the Crestview YMCA),” she said. “It’s my home away from home.”
YMCA member Louis Richard, who learned about declining membership in a recent club meeting, said the announcement was expected, but not so soon.
“(Club officials) talked about the possibility of closing in the future," he said. "I didn’t think it would happen a week later."
OPERATING IN DEFICIT
The YMCA of Florida's Emerald Coast earlier this week decided to close all of Okaloosa County's YMCA locations and programs. Friday was all locations' last day.
The decision stems from “a lack of financial resources,” an Emerald Coast YMCA news release stated.
The Emerald Coast YMCA has operated in a financial deficit since 2007, when the Destin YMCA was built, according to the news release.
Tom Moody, a former executive director for Crestview's YMCA, credited Emerald Coast YMCA President and CEO Rudy Wright for his efforts in trying to correct the debt issue.
Still, it wasn't enough.
“I don’t know how corporate arrived at shutting everything down, but I can understand why they did it … because the money is not coming in,” he said.
'WE WERE STAYING EVEN'
With an estimated 1,200 members at the Crestview YMCA, Moody believed the local YMCA could sustain itself.
“There is no mortgage on our YMCA,” he said. “Our YMCA wasn’t making a lot of money, but we were staying even. In some cases, depending on the month, we were making money.”
Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce President Wayne Harris also said he was confident that the Hub City's location was breaking even.
Colleen Mahn, chairman of the board for the YMCA of the Emerald Coast, said she thought Harris’s calculations might be “outdated,” though she would not further discuss corporation finances.
More than 30 percent of the Crestview location’s income went toward the Emerald Coast YMCA’s deficit, Moody said.
He supported the Crestview location by organizing two fundraisers at his private ranch, raising nearly $28,000.
Moody said he reached out to Wright about having Crestview's YMCA become financially independent. However, Wright said it would not be possible, Moody said.
Harris, for one, said he thinks maybe the YMCA of Northwest Florida would be willing to absorb a single self-sustaining facility like the one Crestview could offer.
HELPING OUT
Walker Elementary in Crestview, Florosa Elementary and Kenwood Elementary contract with the YMCA for before- and after-school care at their respective facilities.
As of Friday, those services – which serve about 105 students – ended.
For the next two weeks, the Okaloosa County School District will step in and provide interim care at no cost to the families.
Northwest Florida Daily News Staff Writers Tom McLaughlin and Kari C. Barlow contributed to this report.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'SHOCKED AND SADDENED': YMCA's closure stuns staffers, members