Matt Larson Talks Mahaska County YMCA

The new YMCA building is coming together on the west side of Oskaloosa at the Lacey Complex.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Moving into a new town and taking a new job can be very stressful. Add the stress of keeping an aging structure operational while you build a new facility.

Adding in a pandemic, and learning how to navigate that, while continuing to move forward made for an extra challenge.

Matt Larson and his family took on that challenge when they decided to call Oskaloosa home. “I sat down with my wife and said, you know, what do you think of Iowa, and we didn’t know much. So we started doing our research on the schools, and we started doing our research on the town and, and we saw that you know what, this is somewhere we want to be.”

A fun amenity that caught Larson’s eye was ax throwing, and he also enjoyed seeing the community’s commitment to better itself. “Just seeing all of the development. This city wasn’t dying, the city was caring for itself, and it was investing back into it.”

Being a big part of childcare in the community and health and fitness, the Mahaska County YMCA has nearly 100 employees. A number that surprised us at Oskaloosa News as we took a group photo of them all.

As of Labor Day, the Mahaska County YMCA is back to normal as much as possible with the current COVID-19 regulations. Their existing facility continues to be maintained to allow its members the best possible use of the facility.

But on the west side of Oskaloosa, their new facility is now rising from the ground. “So we’re going to have one facility for everything. That’s just going to allow us to use the mission of the YMCA to help better our community and keep those kids safe, all the while educating them.”

You can watch the video to hear our complete conversation about Matt and the new Mahaska County YMCA project.