YMCA Hoping for Fundraising Help

Longtime Marco Island philanthropist Bill Young believes in giving back. His philanthropic efforts at Marco Island Academy and the Marco YMCA are two shining examples. Today, Young is encouraging fellow islanders to step up to help pay off the Y’s latest expansion—called the crown jewel by Y CEO Cindy Love-Abounader—the Healthy Living Center.

“Over the years, I've been involved in helping the YMCA,” Young said. “Probably four or five times I've gotten involved at a pretty high level to help them complete a project. I've always had a good feeling about Cindy Love, who obviously runs the thing, but I also have a good feeling about the YMCA in general.”

The $8.5 million Healthy Living Center is quickly being constructed with an expected completion date late this summer. While fundraising has been successful by any measure, there’s more financial heavy lifting—around $2 million—needed to avoid borrowing money to complete the building. Young said it’s time for Marco Islanders to step up and give what they can.

“The purpose of this building from the beginning is very, very meaningful to a lot of people,” Young said. "I didn't get to grow up in the YMCA, but I know people that have. And it was almost like having another parent, you know, somebody to look after them. In a lot of cases, they needed that. So I just have always felt good about the YMCA, no matter where it is. And being that it's a significant part of our community here, I think it's something that everybody should be involved with in some way, whether they volunteer some time or whether they can financially assist the Y. Because they're in the midst of a fundraising campaign right now. They are a couple million dollars short of their goal. And I feel that they'll get there. But it would be great if everybody would help just a little bit. And I think it's not too much to ask.”

Young was one of the first people Love-Abounader turned to when she was putting plans together for the Healthy Living Center. He responded by taking on two key naming opportunities, the Bill and Karen Young Mezzanine and Balcony.

"Cindy just kind of guided me through that,” Young said. "I was pretty early in making the contribution for that new building. She picked out what she thought were the two best ones if it was her money. I said, ‘whatever you think is best, you're better at this kind of thing than I am.'”

The balcony overlooking the tennis and pickleball courts has a particularly commanding view. Young has yet to experience the view in person.

"I saw the appearance in the drawings and everything,” Young said, “and I saw the pictures in the Coastal Breeze.”

Young, who has lived on the island for 25 years, feels the Healthy Living Center is an important piece of the puzzle that makes Marco Island such a wonderful place to live.

 "I think that the island has some challenges,” Young said, "but I think most of them are certainly things that we can work through. I think we're just really fortunate, if you think in the big picture, this has got to be about the safest place there is in the world to live. And the people here, I think for the most part, are just genuinely wonderful folks. And I think they were smart in doing some homework and deciding this is where they wanted to be. That's how I ended up here. I came here two or three times and I can call this home forever.”

To find out how you can help support the new Healthy Living Center, including a number of prime naming opportunities, contact John Riley at 239-394-9622 ext. 225. Or email John at development@ymcacollier.org.