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During the Annual Member Meeting on July 27, members of the Y’s Board of Directors and Leadership team presented on a wide range of topics, spanning all that our association has done in the last year and highlighting some of the great things on the horizon for our Y.
Here’s what was covered:
Healthy Living
The past year was focused on rebuilding, rehiring, and restarting Healthy Living-focused programs and classes that had gone away during the pandemic.
Among the programs that returned in 2021 were swim lessons, which restarted in July 2021. In the year since then, our Y has provided swim lessons to over 1,200 youth in our community, 300 of them 4th and 5th grade students from the Mount Vernon School District. All told, approximately 6,000 individual lessons teaching critical water safety skills were taught last year.
Another area of growth in the last year was the expansion of youth sports programming in Sedro-Woolley. Both a flag football league and a youth running program started earlier this summer in SW, providing youth 6 years old to 12th grade the opportunity to get active in organized athletics.
Seniors are a pivotal part of our YMCA and meeting the health needs of this demographic is an area we are excited about in 2022! We have added an additional AOA class, Gentle Chair Dance, and are planning on bringing back AOA trips later this fall, with hopes for additional aqua fitness classes, too!
John Borgognoni, our Volunteer and Programs Director, tuned into the meeting live from Winnie Houser Playfields to provide an update on Flag Football in Sedro-Woolley.
On the Horizon
- We’re looking to add a master’s swim program and expand our swim lessons program to include adults.
- Flag Football is coming to Mount Vernon this fall! Open for youth grades 1-8. Sign up here.
School-Age Teacher Tiffany Tackett recounted an encounter she had with a member when the Y Kids Summer Day Camp kids were using the pool.
On the Horizon
- Coming in September ‘22, our Y Kids’ @ Hoag child supervision service will match the majority of our fitness class offerings, meaning parents/grandparents will be able to drop their young ones off and take any class!
- We’re offering our first STEM event in August and are looking to providing additional equitable STEM opportunities in the future.
Youth Development
In the last year, we have made serving youth an even bigger priority. Our Y Childcare sites remained open during the pandemic, allowing us to continue serving families. “We’re growing and getting bigger in 2022” was ELC Director Tammie Young’s message for members and families, and she highlighted the new hires of two new staff –– Jamie (new co-director at Laventure) and Makenzi (new program supervisor at Burlington) — as examples of new staff we’ve brought on as we continue to build back our Childcare programs.
Our Y Summer Camps returned in force this summer, too, with four different camps reaching youth ranging from 3 years old to 7th grade. These camps teach youth the four core Y values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility; over 350 kids have attended camp this summer.
Earlier this summer, we opened the Sedro-Woolley Rec Center, a drop-in space for youth ages 12-17 to spend time during the summer. Arcade games, educational activities, and free food are all included in the space, which has seen 85 registrants.
Live in Sedro-Woolley? We’d like your feedback on how the Sedro-Woolley Rec Center might best be utilized moving forward. Take our survey here.
Social Responsibility
Social Responsibility is an area our Y will be leaning into moving forward. Kat Lohman was announced as the new Executive Director of Social Impact at the Skagit Y, a new position for our association. “The most important thing the Y does is providing belonging,” Kat shared, “and I think we can all agree this is something everyone deserves.” In her new role, Kat will work to help our Y expand its programs and initiatives to reach more people – especially those who lack access to the Y.
Social Impact isn’t something just Kat will do – ALL YMCA members can play a part in making our community a more trusting and supporting place. You’re already making an impact by financially supporting the Y, but how else can you be a better neighbor to those around you?
Our 2021 Impact Report can be viewed here.
Kat Lohman was introduced as the Executive Director of Social Impact.
On the Horizon
- The Y will continue to be involved in the Anchor Community Initiative (a program aimed at ending youth homelessness) as the lead agency in Skagit County.
Finance Report
Sarah Weems, our CFOO, provided an update on our finances as an association during the meeting. During 2020 and 2021, our Y received two loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – these loans were essential in keeping the Y open and serving the community. Money from these loans went towards payroll, paying interest on our building, and on other utility expenses.
We’ve had significant growth in our revenue this year, in some cases surpassing revenue totals from 2021. (See the table above for a revenue and expenses comparison for 2021 and 2022; PPP funds are not reflected in the revenue table) We’ve increased revenue amounts without increasing our expenses – another good sign that things are trending in the right direction for our association.
Have further questions about the finances of the Skagit Y? Feel free to reach out to Sarah at [email protected].
Additions to our Board of Directors
Also announced at the meeting was the addition of three new members to the Y’s Board of Directors. These new members are:
- Oscar Rivera (Mt. Vernon Behavioral Health Program Manager at SeaMar)
- Brad Methner (Owner of State Farm Mount Vernon)
- Miriam Miralles Mickelson (Superintendent of Sedro-Woolley School District)
Current Board member Pete Vander Meulen was also named Board Chair, taking over from Paul Pickering, who served as Board Chair through the building of our Hoag Road building and during the pandemic.
Answering Your Questions
Here are responses to questions that were raised during the meeting. (Note: some questions have been modified slightly for clarity or combined with other like questions)
We do preventative maintenance on all our equipment on a quarterly basis; however, equipment can break down at any time from misuse, accidents, or general wear and tear. If you notice that certain equipment is not working properly, please speak with one of our Welcome Center Staff, who will add it to a maintenance document that alerts our commercial equipment repair partners to come in and fix the equipment. Depending on supply chain waits for parts, equipment may not immediately be fixed.
The cleanliness of the Wellness Center will continue to be an ongoing issue, regardless of if we have a staff person on the floor upstairs. It’s everyone’s responsibility to keep the space clean, not just a singular staff person. We encourage you as members to hold one another accountable for picking up your waste and treating the space and equipment with respect!
We do not plan on having a staff person on-hand in the Wellness Center, but if you have specific machine usage questions, we encourage you to take advantage of our Wellness 101 Course, which is designed to answer these questions.
As mentioned in the meeting, AOA events are inclusive of all ages, not just 55+, so we encourage you to participate in AOA events if you are interested!
Do you have ideas for younger adult gatherings or activities? We’d love to continue brainstorming ideas, so please send those ideas along to [email protected] or by speaking with a staff member.
We will continue to place emphasis on sports programming for youth starting at age 6, like what we’ve done with Flag Football in Sedro-Woolley this summer. While our Y has previously run bitty sports programs, our current leadership believes that youth in the 3-6 age group should be given opportunities for unstructured physical activity and “fun” time, which is why we’re hoping to host two to three “field day” events annually for kiddos in this age range starting later this year. We encourage members with kids in the 1-10 age range to take advantage of our Y Kids’ @ Hoag program, as kids can participate in fun play time here.
As we shared in the meeting, we are just shy of 2,000 full-paying membership units. (A membership unit can range from a single person up to a multi-person household.) Our membership also includes Y staff, approximately 275 financial assistance membership units, or our average 450 monthly insurance member visits. Our financial assistance program is based on the federal poverty guidelines and discounts can range from 10% – 75% depending on each family/individual. Insurance Memberships are members whose insurance covers their membership fees.
Our goal is to reach 2,500 full-paying membership units by the end of 2022, and we’re making gains each month towards this number (approximately 5-7% growth each month). We’ll look to grow that number even further in 2023!
The board is responsible for the governance of our association, and they help provide high-level strategic direction that supports our YMCA’s best interests; they are not directly involved in operations decisions (ex. deciding to add a new fitness class or hire/release staff members).
Our board has expertise in a wide range of industries in Skagit County, ranging from education to healthcare, behavioral health to law, finance to business, and more. Thanks to this extensive expertise and range of perspectives, the board effectively supports all our various divisions and operations, including early learning programs, school-age education and enhancement programs, sport and recreation programming, housing of underserved youth, and health and wellness programs for all ages.
The board also represents our Skagit community geographically and demographically and helps keep our Y aware and engaged in the needs of the community. Currently, 50% of board members have memberships at Hoag Road, but like so many people in our community, they visit and support our facilities through drop-ins, too. Regardless of their membership status, 100% of our board is committed to the mission of our Y and to the betterment of our community.
Our board is continually evolving and working to be even more representative of the people in the Valley and at our Y. They seek out perspectives represented in our community on a consistent basis. Because of their range of expertise and connections with our community, they are properly positioned to seek out and welcome new board members that will help advance the mission and impact of the Y. Skagit Y members may present nominees for new board members to the CEO, who will then pass along the nominees to the board for review. The board approves nominees on a rolling basis throughout the year as positions open.
Do you have someone you’d like to nominate for the board? Send a note along to CEO Dean Snider at [email protected].
