The Salvation Army has dedicated its new Kroc Park, Dayton, Ohio, on Webster Street across from the Kroc Center campus, which is part of an approximately $7 million expansion of the main Kroc Center Campus, according to 247Now. The park will provide more space for community events and features a soccer field, stadium seating, pickle ball courts and a running track. The Kroc Center will take advantage of its new expanded space when development is completed next month with an open house set for Oct. 26.
The Everett Family YMCA, Everett, Washington, will move to a $33.5 million building in December. A ceremony held Sept. 21 transferred a time capsule that was sealed in the cornerstone of the old building downtown to the new building. The capsule included current membership cards, a copy of The Daily Herald, coins from 2019, an invitation to the time capsule ceremony and an American flag, reported HeraldNet. The new location has more usable space with a pool area off the lobby and a grand staircase on the other side leading to locker rooms and an indoor track overlooking a gymnasium. A room that will feature treadmills has windows with views of downtown. Off the weight area is a reflection room dedicated to Ted Wenta, former executive director of the Everett Y branch who died earlier this year. Before he died, he pushed for the new location.
The Westport Weston Family YMCA, Westport, Connecticut, started renovations on Sept. 3 at its Camp Mahackeno with construction of a $25 million, two-story, 22,000-square-foot addition and campus renovations, reported InklingsNews. Changes include a new pool, swim pad and pool house. The gymnastics program from the Norwalk campus will revert back to the Westport Weston Y. The second floor of the building addition will include a bigger Kid’s Club, and the lower level of the building addition will expand existing wellness services, including group exercise, indoor cycling, youth programs, dance and stretching areas. Camp Mahackeno is expected to open June 2020, and the building addition is expected to be completed in September 2020.
The Tennessee State Alliance of YMCAs will no longer offer the Silver Sneakers program at its 44 locations across the state starting Jan. 1, 2020, after struggling to find ways to make the fitness program for seniors work with individual membership pricing models, reported WKRN. Currently, 10,000 active Silver Sneakers members, more than half of which live in rural areas, use a Tennessee YMCA facility. After the Silver Sneakers program ends, seniors will have to pay out-of-pocket for a YMCA membership. The Y had been negotiating with Silver Sneakers’ for-profit provider, Franklin-based Tivity, for a more equitable reimbursement policy. Tennessee Ys will continue to serve seniors with a variety of options to allow them to continue to come to the Y once the agreement with Silver Sneakers ends, according to the Y.
After 10 years of work, the Friedman Jewish Community Center, Kingston, Pennsylvania, has opened a new community center in a former grocery store. The new building replaces an older building in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that had housed the community center since the 1950s, reported The Citizens Voice. The new facility includes swimming pools, extensive health and wellness facilities, food pantry, daycare, a learning center and a rain garden. A wall from the old auditorium was used in the new building, which has the flexibility to be expanded and restructured down the road.
Club Industry's nonprofit briefs features recent notable openings, real estate transactions and renovations among American YMCA and JCC facilities. Do you have news to share with us? Send your news, tips or story ideas to [email protected]. You can also connect with us on Facebook, on Twitter and on LinkedIn.