Kosciusko Community Young Men's Christian Association - better known as the YMCA or simply the "Y" - is celebrating its 40th anniversary this week.

Tuesday also will be proclaimed YMCA Day by Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins.

Since its inception, the YMCA has grown in building size, membership and programs.

A charter for Kosciusko's YMCA was applied for in 1961 from the national YMCA. In 1963, the Y started a campaign to raise money for a building, raising $130,000. In 1965, the YMCA building was opened.

Before the building was ready, Y members met off-site. Businesses, like Lake City Bank on Market Street, opened their doors for the Y groups.

"It was just started," said Y executive director Tom Garland, "(because) they were just looking to have recreation for this town."

The YMCA board had approximately 24 past presidents, who usually served one to two years apiece.

Dr. Carl E. Shrader was the first YMCA board president, serving from 1961-1963. Phil Harris served as president in 1964-65. Chuck Whitcraft is the current board president. The most any board president has served is three years, and past board presidents who have served three years include Joe Thallemer, Jane Scott, Don Bergen and Shrader.

Members of the YMCA board serve for at least three years and up to six years.

The YMCA's first executive director - and first employee - was Don Reap, who was hired in 1962. Now the YMCA has 115 employees, eight who are full time.

In the 1980s, the Y underwent its first major expansion. Then in the 1990s, a youth gym, small pool and fitness center were added.

As for membership, the first known count in 1963 reported the YMCA had 295 members. Garland said, "That was before the building was even finalized."

This year, membership is more than 7,000.

Programs offered by the Y have grown as membership has increased. When the YMCA started, there were only eight programs. Now, the YMCA has 25 programs this season alone and programs change every season.

"Pretty much we start new programs every season and improve what we do have," said Garland.

Carol Lowe is on the 40th anniversary committee and on the YMCA board.

For the past 3-1/2 years, up to six months ago, she was also the program chairman.

"I'm still on that committee and I've been on that committee for five or six years," she said.

"I would say the program committee has pretty much been the focus of my life the last 5-1/2 years. So when I think of the Y, I think of the programs and what it has to offer."

She said the YMCA tries to bring in a lot of new programs and ideas. One of the exciting programs the Y is going to try to have, she said, is dancing lessons for children.

Whether dancing or gymnastics, aerobics or camps, what makes the programs work is the employees.

"I think they have to have a passion for the Y," Lowe said of the YMCA employees, because they're not doing it for the money.

Lowe said she herself has a lot of passion for the Y. And so does her family. Her father, the late Joe Shellabarger, was instrumental in getting the YMCA started in Warsaw. Her father had grown up at the YMCA in Decatur, Ill.

"He thought it was pretty important that the community had a place for everyone to go," she said. "... I would say that my dad got all these men together and spurred them on."

Her father-in-law, Jack Lowe, was the YMCA board president in 1966. Her mother now is a regular at the YMCA.

And it's people like Lowe's family who have made the Y into what it is today. Lowe said many people have given time and money over the Y's last 40 years.

"The Y was one of the first to offer such a wide variety of programs to the community," from camps to sports, she said.

"It's a great place for families to go." They each can find something to their own liking or find something they all can do together.

She said, "The Y is the only place for families to go."

Part of what may contribute to the Y's continued growth is its willingness to provide financial assistance to families who can't afford to pay. The YMCA offers a financial application through the Kosciusko County United Way. They won't turn anyone away due to financial hardships.

"We find a way," said Garland. "We try to help as many people as we can through the United Way."

The Y is opened Mondays through Fridays, 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; and Sundays, 1 to 6:30 p.m.

Garland said their current vision is to serve more of Kosciusko County even through "another site possibly."

The Y's national average of serving a community is within a three-mile radius, but they do get people from outer areas.

"That's why we need to stretch out more" and do more programs, Garland said.

Some of the challenges facing the Kosciusko Community YMCA is that they are stuck where they are as far as facilities. The building is landlocked currently.

"We definitely need more parking. There's not enough room," said Garland. Parking fills up quickly, he said, and they'd love to have a bigger building.

The current facility is built for 5,500 people. He said, "We use every single inch." [[In-content Ad]]