Unique YMCA Groundbreaking
A Mahaska County YMCA Press Release
Local leaders met May 11 to break ground on the new Early Childhood Education and Recreation Center. Civic leaders and project partners decided to share the groundbreaking in a video in lieu of a traditional groundbreaking open to the public, donors, stakeholders and media due to COVID-19 restrictions and respecting social distancing.
Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt representing the City of Oskaloosa, who will own the facility, Shelly Herr, Board President representing the Oskaloosa Community School District who invested toward construction of the facility, and Matt Larson, Mahaska County YMCA CEO, representing the Y who will be the operator and is heading up the private fundraising, shared remarks and took part in the ceremony.
Construction will take place at the Lacey Complex just northeast of the Oskaloosa Elementary School building.
“This groundbreaking takes place at a unique time,” said Krutzfeldt at the groundbreaking. “The need has never been greater for optimistic and courageous leadership to encourage people outside of their homes and give them a great place to go. Our community has been blessed with a series of cooperative projects that have created great things over the years. I believe the new Center will send a strong message to visitors and community members of what our standards are,” he said.
“In the history of cities there are a number of watershed moments – times where people of vision assume their responsibility for leadership and make commitments. And those decisions impact the culture and amenities for many years to come,” said the Mayor.
Construction on the 88,000+ sq. ft. facility has begun, and the project is on schedule to open in September of 2021. The current facility was constructed in 1969 and the Y runs licensed childcare and early childhood education at two additional remote facilitates. The new Recreation and Early Childhood Education Center will bring all programming under one roof to provide high quality space for learning, gathering and becoming stronger as a community, well into the future.
“The school is investing in the (Y) Center because we know how important early childhood education and care are,” said Herr. “The (Y) Center will provide an environment that meets the highest childcare and preschool standards for early education, will prepare our youngest citizens for life-long learning, and will ultimately improve the quality of our future graduates.”
The Y is conducting a private fundraising campaign to help ensure the facility design meets the needs of the community going forward. The total cost of the project including an endowment is $33.6 million. The partners have raised $29.6 million to date. Another $2 million is waiting to be confirmed and $2 million is still needed from the community. Most of the funds that still need to be raised will go to a YMCA $2 million endowment that will be created to maintain the building. The YMCA need the community’s support to make sure the Y has the amenities and an endowment to ensure its ability to serve for generations to come.
At the groundbreaking, Larson thanked the City, School, businesses, and individuals for their contributions to date and outlined an opportunity for donors who wish to contribute to the capital campaign.
“We still need our community’s support to finish. For every dollar donated to the campaign, the George Daily Family Trust will match the contribution with two dollars from the fund.” More information on how to donate can be found YMCA Website: http://www.mahaskaymca.org/ournewy/.