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closeYMCA in Sumner by 2013?
The organization’s Tacoma-Pierce County CEO says
Avani Nadkarni
Sumner resident Barbara Bitetto thinks a community center has been a long time coming.
For more than two years, she has lobbied with a couple dozen area residents for some sort of civic hub for the city and her dream is finally starting to take shape, in the form of a YMCA.
“There’s been so much community support that it’s moving forward,” Bitetto said.
“There’s been a group that’s been hoping and dreaming for a community center to Sumner for over a decade,” he said. “(We at the YMCA want) to begin the fundraising in earnest this year, to have the land acquired in 2010 and to open up a YMCA by 2013.”
Many in Sumner enjoy YMCAs, but Bitetto said a lot of residents try to avoid driving up to the busy South Hill location, which is the closest YMCA to Sumner. Bitetto and other Sumnerites began working with the YMCA after visiting the Gig Harbor branch last year.
“We liked what we saw,” Bitetto said. “We found early on that building the building is one thing, but the operation afterward would be tough. This way, we can have our community center and the YMCA can deal with day-to-day operation.”
Since then, support has been huge and a recent survey done by an outside company showed that one out of every two residents polled said they would join a Sumner YMCA.
“I’ve been with the YMCA for 34 years and I’ve never seen a community that’s so hungry for the YMCA,” Ecklund said. “Our national average (of community members joining a local YMCA) is 5 percent and here in Pierce County it’s about 12 percent. To have 50 percent interest is just phenomenal.”
The YMCA is looking at several sites, Ecklund said, including the abandoned QFC building on Main Street. They’ve had several interested investors, including the city of Sumner and the Sumner Rotary Club, plus two million-dollar donors —one individual and one business — who would like to remain anonymous for the time being.
If all goes well in Sumner, Bonney Lake could be next in line for a neighborhood YMCA. Ecklund has his team are working to acquire land there and are hoping to open a site there by 2018. Bitetto, for one, is delighted.
“Kids say ‘There’s nothing to do here’ and I know we have a lot of industrial businesses ... and I think it would be a benefit to their employees as well,” she said. “I think it’s more than just the exercise (part of the YMCA). I just think it would be a great boost to the community.”