Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

July 23, 2008

YMCA gets $30K from area youth group

By LINDSAY VanHULLE

TRAVERSE CITY -- Colton Cartwright looks forward to playing on new tennis courts at the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA.

An avid athlete, he has seen the aging building's condition begin to deteriorate, and decided to do something about it.

Colton, 17, is one of 70 high school students from five area counties to award $30,000 to the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA for construction of a new, larger facility.

The students, part of the Youth GrantMaker program through the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, come from Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Antrim and Kalkaska counties.

The YMCA grant is the largest single award to come from the program.

"I enjoy playing tennis, and right now at the YMCA, the courts aren't in the greatest condition," said Colton, an incoming senior at Traverse City Central High School. "It'll be a nicer facility so more people will want to go there."

The grant was awarded in addition to $100,000 allocated among all five counties, said Jeanne Snow, executive director of the Community Foundation. Each county had $20,000 to distribute.

Focus groups this year revealed that students wanted access to recreation, especially during summer months.

"They really felt quite strongly about it," she said. "When there aren't high school sports active, there really isn't too much for kids."

The existing, 45,000-square-foot facility on Racquet Club Drive in Garfield Township will be replaced by a new building nearly double its size on Silver Lake Road, near Barnes Road.

Thus far, YMCA leaders have raised about $4.6 million toward the project, including the students' contribution. The first phase is expected to cost $11.2 million, a figure needed before any work can begin.

Additional phases -- that will require additional fundraising -- would add a pool, tennis courts and a fieldhouse.

The organization last week began the public phase of a capital campaign that Chief Executive Officer Tom Van Deinse said he hopes is wrapped within a year.

"There is kind of a sense of urgency now that we have gone public," he said. "(But) we have to get to those goals first."

Van Deinse estimated the cost of the project when completed could be as much as $25 million.

The students' grant not only reflects their own desires for more recreation activities in the area, but also a commitment from their communities, he said.

"The entire five counties are getting behind this," Van Deinse said. "For this kind of group to come up with that kind of commitment I think is really tremendous."

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