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SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Saratoga YMCA is the recipient of a $20,000 donation from the Saratoga Springs Rotary Club in an effort to help the organization reach its capital project goal of $8.8 million. The YMCA is currently in the process of expanding.
The donation is part of the club’s yearly Major Gift Program which supports local community based programs, according to a press release from the YMCA.
The YMCA was picked out of seven applications to receive the award.
“The club and its members are proud to support the Y, and its ever-growing role in the Saratoga Springs community.” said Stephen Kyne, the club president.
The donation will go toward helping fund the YMCA’s capital project, which includes adding almost 40,000 square feet of space onto the organization’s West Avenue campus building. That new space will partially become home to the Saratoga Senior Center, which will be relocating from its current facility at Williams Street.
Senior Center Executive Director Lois Celeste said the senior center will have a 30-year, rent-free lease for the building. The senior center has to raise $1.5 million for fixtures in the building, she said.
She said the center has only about $300,000 left to raise but will continue fundraising efforts to get the rest of the over $3 million needed for the overall project.
“It’s definitely a great synergy between the two of us,” she said. “We’re excited to be on the same campus. I think it’s going to be amazing for our older adult population.”
Celeste said they don’t have enough space at the current William Street location and haven’t for a while. The center serves around 3,000 seniors a year. The YMCA has approximately 4,500 members who are 65 or older, Celeste said.
“Our overlap is only about 5%, so we fully expect a big onslaught of seniors coming our way and coming to the center,” she said.
Once the senior center moves into the YMCA facility the William Street location will become a new code blue shelter and navigation center operated by Shelters of Saratoga. That initiative was announced in October, along with news that the Dake Family, which owns Stewart’s Shops, donated $3 million to the capital project.
YMCA CEO Scott Clark said construction work is moving along in the area where the senior center will be housed.
“Hopefully we’ll finish that up by spring,” he said.
He said that space above the senior center will be used for more room for group fitness and program space for the YMCA.
“The additional gym and adventure center will be following suit just a couple months behind,” Clark said.
Clark said he’s thankful for all the community support the project had received so far.
“We look forward to sharing the building and everything as we move into 2023,” he said.
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