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$6M project set for completion in 2010
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UPGRADE PLAN: The addition will be to the south and east of the current structure, which is 74,000 square feet.
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ALL SMILES: Dignitaries break ground for the $6 million expansion of the D.D. & Velma Davis Family Branch of the YMCA in Boardman. Participating in Thursday’s event were, from left, Greg Strollo of Strollo Architects; C. Robert Buchanan, a YMCA board member; Ken Rudge, president and chief executive officer of the Youngstown YMCA; John Yerian, chairman of the YMCA’s trustee board; Tony Lariccia, businessman and philanthropist, and his wife, Mary; Doug Lumsden Jr.; and Tom Grantonic, Boardman Y director.
By Sean Barron
Much of the expansion will include activities and learning opportunities for youngsters.
BOARDMAN — It you’re anything like Paul Filipowicz or his 6-year-old daughter, Raegan, it truly is fun to stay at the YMCA.
Thanks largely to the D.D. & Velma Davis Family YMCA here, Filipowicz has seen, among other benefits, Raegan’s social skills expand tremendously.
“She really looks forward to coming” and taking part in swimming lessons as well as arts and crafts, said Filipowicz, of Canfield, adding that the Y also has given him opportunities to expand his network of friends.
An expansion of a different sort, however, will soon be under way at the facility, which has reinforced the positive feelings Filipowicz has for the facility at 45 McClurg Road. It also was the reason for Thursday’s outdoor groundbreaking ceremony there.
Several dozen elected officials and others attended the 90-minute event to celebrate the addition of a $6 million expansion, set to be completed in fall 2010. The gathering took place six years to the day the YMCA opened — Sept. 10, 2003.
The new portion will add nearly 30,000 square feet to the 74,000-square-foot YMCA. Offerings are to include programs for youngsters, an aerobics studio, a larger fitness center, a multipurpose gym and a recreation area, officials with the Y noted.
The project will be paid for by contributions, grant money and joining fees and will not require any borrowing or bonds, Y officials added.
The Y aided in expanding socialization skills for Bonnie Dodge’s four children, including her 5-year-old triplets, all of whom come nearly every day.
“It can only get better,” said Dodge, who joined more than three years ago and is Filipowicz’s girlfriend.
Dodge, who also has a 9-year-old who goes to the Y, said the fitness machines as well as pilates, kick-boxing and sculpting classes are her favorite activities.
The new part will offer plenty for youngsters, largely because about 65 percent of it will be geared toward children and youth programs, noted Ken Rudge, president and chief executive officer of the Youngstown YMCA.
Rudge, who was the event’s main speaker, said that plans also include expanding a preschool area and adding an art studio.
The Boardman Y’s membership for 2008 was around 16,500, he noted.
Rudge said the facility is needed more than ever partly because obesity in children “is growing at an alarming rate.” Nevertheless, he continued, the YMCA is about more than giving people a chance to keep in shape.
“It’s a chance for families to come and do things together,” he said.
Also speaking was Tony Lariccia of Boardman, who praised the YMCA in downtown Youngstown for providing a place to stay and offering help for his father, who came to the area in 1910.
The expansion is another positive example of what happens when Mahoning Valley residents, businesses and other entities pull together for the good of the community, said Lariccia, a local businessman and philanthropist.
He and his wife, Mary, have donated $1 million to the facility, and its indoor aquatic center bears the family name.
The expansion is especially good news for Adele Taylor, who is the facility’s preschool and family-services director.
When Taylor arrived at the Y about four years ago, it had only one class and one teacher for about seven 4-year-olds.
Now, the facility has four classes for roughly 82 children age 3 to 6, she pointed out.
The center features a gym-and-swim program for youngsters several days a week, Taylor continued.
In addition, children are taught letter recognition, phonics and counting skills, as well as life lessons gleaned through Bible readings, she noted.
“We just get them excited to learn,” she said. “When they leave here, they look forward to what they’ll learn in school.”
The expansion will allow for an increase in the number of classes for youngsters from four to eight, Taylor added.
Also offering remarks were John H. Yerian Jr., chairman of the YMCA’s board of trustees, and Tom Grantonic, director of the Boardman branch.