The Huntington YMCA, with over 100 years of tradition, may be the best investment you will ever make in your family and yourself.
By Justin McElroy
HQ 54 | WINTER 2005
It is a typical Saturday afternoon in July when the Johnson family walks through the doors of the Huntington YMCA’s May Building. The group of five flash their cards at the check-in counter before going their separate ways.
Mark, the father, heads to the weight room with his son Ben, a 13-year-old who wants to give weight training a try for the first time. Mother Nancy stops off at the nursery where the family’s two-year-old daughter Missy will pass the time playing with other children under the watchful eye of trained supervisors. Mom then climbs the stairs to the top floor where a spinning class awaits her. Finally, 12-year-old daughter Amy changes into her bathing suit in the locker room before heading to the pool to swim some laps – she is a newcomer to the YMCA swim team and wants to work on her backstroke form.
Nearly 15 miles away at the YMCA’s Kennedy Center on Route 2, the Williams family is wrapping up a long day in the sun. The family of four has been taking advantage of one of the many benefits of their membership – use of a large outdoor pool that overlooks the Ohio River. They pack up their van with remnants of their picnic supplies and head home, a bit tired from their day splashing in the pool.
For more than 100 years, the Huntington YMCA has been a place not only for fitness, but families as well. Today that is more evident than ever before. Increasingly, the YMCA is becoming a place where families grow up. There’s a nursery and daycare facilities for children, a wide variety of sports programs for the area’s youth, a vast array of fitness options for adults and vital programs for seniors. In short, the Y has something for everyone.
One of the YMCA’s many missions is to serve as a haven for good health. This is even more important today as a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that West Virginia’s adult obesity rate is second worst in the nation. But, as it has a tendency to do during times of crisis, the YMCA is rising to the challenge.
Executive Director of the Huntington YMCA George Smailes is concerned about the state’s battles with obesity and diabetes, and is working to make his organization more effective in helping to fight them.
“Every human being needs to develop some kind of fitness program, whether it’s swimming, using our cardio equipment, lifting weights, getting involved in aerobics classes,” Smailes said. “We simpy must combat the problems that the state is facing.”
That’s just one of the reasons why the organization is launching a new marketing campaign this year that lauds itself as: “The Heart of the Community.”
“We believe the slogan encompasses everything we do,” Smailes said. “From exercise programs to youth programs to quality time with friends and family, the YMCA truly is the heart of the community.”
As an example of its commitment to excellence, the YMCA is taking a high tech approach to fitness. Not content to just educate members of the importance of a fitness regime, the organization takes the next step in the battle of the bulge by offering a weight loss program that can help members build a plan for a healthy lifestyle.
“We measure the individual’s resting metabolism to determine which calorie specific meal plan will work best,” Smailes explains. “The meal plans are then evaluated by a registered dietitian.”
After deciding on a new menu, members consult with the fitness staff to construct an exercise regime based on their individual needs. That plan is evaluated weekly to make sure members are getting the most out of their workout. Similarly, members’ diets are often reviewed and revamped.
Though accountability is great, the Y knows one of the best ways to help people achieve fitness goals is by offering a wide selection of new and changing equipment to help keep workouts fresh. Though the “Cardio Theater” in the May Building is probably the most popular addition the Y has made in the recent years, they have also revamped the old Huntington High School building across the street to accommodate new activities for children and seniors.
“Not only are our facilities changing,” said Smailes, “but so are our programs. We’re trying to create enthusiasm among our members by offering a variety of cutting-edge programs.”
One such program that has been a hit with members is “spinning,” where high-tech stationary bikes are used to help peddle away the pounds.
If you don’t feel like spinning for your thinning, the Y offers dozens of other classes for every taste, including yoga, several aerobics classes, aqua aerobics, and a full program of classes in the nation’s fastest growing exercise format, pilates.
Former Mrs. America and mother of eight, Debbie Wolfe, has had the same locker in the YMCA’s May Building for over 20 years. She says the wide array of fitness offerings at the Y allow her not only to stay fit, but to spend more quality time with her family.
“We’re family oriented, so it’s not like we leave the kids and go to the Y. Instead, we all go together because there’s something for everybody to do,” said Wolfe. “From ‘Mommy and Me’ classes to activities with seniors and folks with different fitness challenges, there’s just something for everyone.”
Though fitness programs are a mainstay of the YMCA, community outreach has always been a pillar of the Y movement. The Huntington YMCA is no exception, and offers several different programs geared towards improving the lives of people throughout the region.
“We are committed to providing programs for disadvantaged youth and low-income seniors,” Smailes said. “We try to have an impact on the community.”
One of the programs that has been an asset to our community is the Y’s daycare, which Smailes says can help give less fortunate families a leg up.
“A lot of the kids in our daycare program are from low-income families. We provide a safe place for them to stay so the parents can continue their education or go to work,” said Smailes.
One of the concerns many have about a membership to the YMCA is that it will be cost prohibitive. To address those concerns, Smailes and the YMCA board introduced numerous methods of payment to fit the needs of every member.
Seniors and older adults can get a further price break by forgoing a membership to both Y facilities, and signing up solely to use the Huntington High school facility.
“When you look at everything this YMCA has to offer, it is probably the best investment you will ever make in yourself and your family,” Smailes asserts.
The efforts of the YMCA to make its services affordable help to emphasize what’s at the heart of their mission. Though their fitness programs can help stave off disease and obesity, the Y primarily makes those services available because, as with any YMCA undertaking, it makes life better.
“Exercise gets all those feel-good endorphins pumping, and it improves your mood, and your alertness, you’re more able to learn, more able to think creatively, it makes you more productive,” said Debbie Wolfe. “It just improves every aspect of your life.”
Recently, an out of town visitor was overheard in the lobby saying, “I travel a lot and have been to YMCA’s all over the country, and this is the finest one I have ever seen.” High praise for Huntington’s YMCA: the Heart of the Community.
