Paul Szmal: Good morning 816, it's FHalx Morning Thursday and we're joined in studio, we have a studio guest today, old friend Charlie Evangelista is here from the Geneva Family YMCA, good morning.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Good morning Ted.
Paul Szmal: And you brought someone with you today.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: I have, I have Mr. Todd Freeland, our new, recently new, Executive Director of the YMCA.
Paul Szmal: Good morning to you and welcome.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Good morning, thanks for having me.
Paul Szmal: I just want to ask you one question Charlie, and that's to do a little self-promotion for us. Remind us of our earlier conversation that was overheard by the folks from Guardian Glass and how that led to a little help with the campaign.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Yeah, so I was here talking about the Y and our building project, it was probably about six months ago, and the plant manager over at Guardian Glass, Justin, he was listening on his way to work from Pen Yen and we were talking about the struggles the Y had in terms of getting enough donors and revenue to do our project, and he essentially called up and said, you know what, I really would like to help, and he said, how could I help? And after several meetings and tours of Guardian Glass, which is a great, great facility, Guardian Glass is donating the glass for our project, so thanks to you, thanks to the program, and of course, thanks to Guardian Glass.
Paul Szmal: And speaking of that, we are on our way. The addition is being built as we speak. Maybe Todd can talk a little bit about it, but both Todd and I are really waiting for the steel and maybe it's going to come today.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Wow.
Paul Szmal: All right, so bring us up to date, it's been a while since we've talked about this on what's been happening and where we are progress-wise.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Yeah, so if you drive down William Street, you'll see a lot of things that are moving and shaking, so things are going in the right direction right now. As Charlie alluded to, we're super excited today, we got our fingers crossed that things are going to come in, that we'll see the steel columns come in and hopefully go up this week. So this next few weeks are going to be really exciting with the steel, with the pour of the pad, so things are really on the up and up right now. We've got noisy people out in the hall there, so just, yeah, just push that door closed a little bit.
Paul Szmal: So again, it's been a while since we've talked, remind us what's in this addition and what is it's going to allow the Geneva Family YMCA to do.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: So the biggest part of the addition is going to be the expansion of about a 10,000 square foot facility where it'll be health and wellness. So basically a big fitness center that'll take place there. Along with that, we're going to have some other rooms of group exercise, we'll have some updates with all of our child care, we're going to renovate our lobby. We're really excited about it because it's going to provide an opportunity for some of our seniors to kind of hang out after their programs. We got two real nice alcoves in the festival that will have some couches, some seating, a little bit of a little coffee area, so it'll really make a nice inviting space for that demographic.
Paul Szmal: So remind us how the public can support this, I'm on the website GenevaFamilyYMCA.org under the capital campaign and we see that it's like one of those thermometers kind of rising up and it's getting near the top, so people are really supporting this effort.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Absolutely, we're really getting there. We have four phases, three out of those four phases have already been completed. So now we're looking at that fourth phase to really bring it home. So the finish line is near but we're not there quite yet, so if people are willing to continue to contribute and help us out to make this work, it is something that we're almost there. So every little bit helps for those folks like Justin that are driving down the street right now heading to work, if they have the opportunity to get with their supervisors or their bosses or maybe they own their own place and they're willing to help support the Y, which strengthens the community, it would be a blessing for all of us.
Paul Szmal: So where is the demand going these days for programs? Like you said, a lot of this is going to be health and fitness, but the Y has kind of evolved into, like you said, a community center, hangout place, social meeting place, as much as it is a fitness place. Where's the demand going to go, you think, in the years to come for what kinds of services and facilities?
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Well, that's the unique part about the Y. It's an all-inclusive facility when it comes to our programs. We have everyone from infants to seniors, so we really try to provide programs for everyone. One of the things that I'm very excited about with this new space is it's going to be able to provide us a lot more programming for our middle school kids, for our high school kids, our seniors, as I mentioned before. So program-wise, we just try to be innovative. We try to stay ahead of the curve and come up with some new programs. We put in a lot of different surveys out there to assess what those needs, wants, and interests are from the people that come to the YMCA. So we're looking to do the things that we've always done well, but we're looking to also improve on some of those things and learn what are those new trends that are out there today.
Paul Szmal: And you've been blessed to have a great staff that can provide all this programming at a very reasonable price.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Well, that's just it. The staff that we have, it's something where we're all in the boat together, and at this point we're all starting to row in the same direction. So we're really starting to gain some tread. We're really starting to take off. The culture at the Y has been reinvigorated. The staff that we have are excited to be there. When we talk about some of these innovative programs, they're the ones that are bringing some of this stuff to the forefront. So having those conversations with them to build some of that excitement and investment. So we're only as strong as our weakest link, and our staff right now is very strong.
Paul Szmal: If it all goes perfectly, and everybody's laughing because it never does, but if it all goes perfectly, when do we have a ribbon-cutting for the new edition?
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: I would say somewhere in early summer is what I'm shooting for. I think if everything goes as planned, as you said, in a perfect situation, which usually doesn't happen when it comes to construction. So I would say somewhere in the summer. I'm shooting for early summer, but that's the goal.
Paul Szmal: Of course, when you go back to the office, you hope someone will come in and go, there's a big truck with a bunch of steel here. I'll run outside, get the video going, and tell the world. Get some of the weightlifters to take it off the truck. There is a video, if you go to the website, GenevaFamilyYMCA.org, there's a whole video about the Building What Matters campaign.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Now we got a, is it a pancake breakfast that's coming up soon?
Paul Szmal: That is correct. We were fortunate enough to team up with Hydrant Hose. We're going to be down there. They're going to host it and work together to continue to fundraise for this event. So we're super excited about that. It'll be Sunday from 8 to 11. Tickets are still available. You can come on down, grab your tickets there, or you can grab them at the Y as well. But we're super excited to be able to team up with another community-based organization.
Paul Szmal: Wow, that's great. Is there any particular need in terms of programming that you could use an instructor for or something you'd like to offer that you haven't found someone that can run it?
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Absolutely. So when it comes to our health and wellness, we're always looking for new programs. So any group exercise folks, when it comes to our childcare programs, we're really excited because of the expansion that we're going to have more space. So anybody that's looking to work with kids, work with teens, we're always looking for those folks.
Paul Szmal: So remind us a little bit about membership. What sort of tiers or packages are there for becoming a member of the Y?
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Yeah, so the biggest one would be the family membership. So that is basically two adults. So you're looking at two people that are over 22 years old, and then everybody else that lives in that household. That's more of the basic program or membership. From there, you have your adult membership, and it's roughly about $75 a month. So it works out really well to be able to have those programs, or excuse me, the membership. And then we have a teen, a youth membership. So if you look around to a lot of the other gyms, especially other YMCAs, we're very modest in our pricing because we want to make sure that everybody can be there.
Paul Szmal: All right. Learn more at the website, GenevaFamilyYMCA.org. You can join. You can donate to this Building What Matters program, thanks to the great generosity of the business community and the community as a whole for making donations to this. And thanks, you both, for coming in. We appreciate it. And I can't wait to see that ribbon cut and these new facilities being used.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: Thanks, Ted.
Paul Szmal: Thanks for having us.
Charlie Evangelista, Todd Freeland: All right. Thank you. I always appreciate the visit.
