Archive: Around Town

There are some institutions we take for granted as integral parts of our community whether we actually use them ourselves or not.  The Ithaca YMCA -- or 'The Y' as it has re-branded itself -- has arguably one of them for the past century and a half.  But the Y is also one of the institutions hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been struggling for survival since lockdown requirements began in March.  The good news is that the Y is beginning a phased reopening next Monday.

"The big thing that's exciting and positive is Ys across the country have opened in different, different stages and all but one that we know of --which was a residential overnight camp -- have been successful in opening, going through the proper procedures, protocols, and requirements to keep their membership safe. And we have a good track record of providing that," says Ithaca Y CEO Frank Towner.

Shutting down the Y was devastating.  The Y counted 3670 members in March, but because they weren't allowed to provide services, it deactivated all regular memberships, taking its operating budget from between $60,000 and $80,000 per month to virtually zero.  Sustaining memberships went as high as $2,600, but it was a trickle of what the Y needed to maintain its staff and pay other expenses. 130 part time staff were laid off on March 15th, leaving nine full time staff and a couple of hourly workers.  But even that wasn't sustainable. By March 26th only 4.5, including Towner, were left to try to keep the Y afloat.

"I worked from home from March 26th until July 1st and, Theresa, Greg and Dylan came in regularly and did facility stuff, marketing communication, membership services," Towner says. "Dylan did physical things. I took care of making money, deferring money, waving money, asking for gifts. We still have our grant from (NYS Assemblywoman) Barbara Lifton in the New York State world somewhere. She was able to get us a grant for $300,000 and we did the parking lot and the gender-neutral locker room. We had a bridge loan until we got that money. Then because COVID hit that money is still in New York State, but it's in flux somewhere. So it's been, it's been a challenging time."

The staff had hoped to reopen when the Southern Tier qualified for Phase 4 of the state's reopening plan, but gyms and fitness centers were told they were not going to be able to open at that time, and the Y had been classified as a gym.  That meant more scrimping.  Even though reopening will bring in some income -- the staff estimates around $40,000, which is between 50% and 66% of its normal operating budget -- there are more expenses for cleaning materials and other COVID expenses that Towner says would otherwise have gone to programming and staff.

Towner himself is taking on multiple roles on top of his duties as CEO.  When the Y opens Monday there will be one person at the front desk instead of the two that were previously assigned there.  That person will do the initial screening before people are let inside.  Towner says that if that one person is not enough he will be the second person doing the screening.  He also reinstated his certification as a life guard and will be filling that role for pool programs.

"I'm facility, life-guarding, front door COVID Enforcement, and cleaning," he says.

Over the summer the Y has managed to host some activities.  Three more staff people were brought on to run a summer camp, but that only attracted 2/5ths of the kids the Y staff had hoped for.  They planned to have five pods of ten children each, but only managed to attract 20 kids.  The Y has also run a weekly free food hub every Monday and Friday that has served between 20 and 30 people.  Y staff picks up food from a donation network, and serves it outside the Y building.  Towner says he would like to continue that effort.

Even though the Y is opening, Towner says a skeleton crew will be offering a reduced menu of offerings, and they will be strictly adhering to state and County regulations for gyms in New York State.

"At the front door, you have to have your screening, you have to have the tests, you have to have the right mask on. You cannot congregate in any one area." Towner says. "There is no sitting. You go to your space. You have a limited time on your piece of equipment. For instance, the pool is 45 minutes and then you're out. And then we rotate another six people through one person per lane. So there will be as many offerings of programs as we can do within the state requirements of space, social distancing, and the 33% requirement within the facility."

Towner has also been talking to Cornell University representatives about support the Y can offer now that the campus is reopening. 

"We have space," he says. "We've got a huge gym and we could commit that to childcare. We hope to serve the Cornell population, if we can, in a safe manner. It all comes back to safety. If we're not sure that this is going to work -- if it's people from out of state on the state list or from out of the country and the ones who should be quarantining, we shouldn't be allowing their kids in. And if they're members from out of state, they need to quarantine for two weeks before they come in."

As is true for any business or organization offering in-person services right now, the Y could close again if a staff member or member contracts COVID-19.

"We'd have to close, who knows for how long, to clean the heck out of the place for two or three days and bringing everybody back, but people are going to be nervous," says Towner.

For now Towner says the staff is estimating that by Monday's opening day. the Y will regain 40% to 50% of the3670 members they had in March.  All the deactivated memberships will be reactivated unless members requested cancelling them.  The deadline for cancelling was two days ago.  The Web site reopening FAQs section also explains, "Due to the critical financial strain on the Y at this time, the YMCA Board of Directors has decided to postpone crediting lost time for monthly draft memberships for March 2020 to the 2021 fiscal year on a month yet to be determined."  So building back to sustainable operations is still an uphill challenge.

Fundraising events are also going forward.  The annual Y golf tournament is scheduled for September 14th.  The grand hole-in-one prize is $10,000 cash.  Tee times are staggered to insure COVID social distancing rules.

Right now Towner is remaining optimistic that the Y will be able to stay open, and eventually build back to its normal membership and level of service.

"We have worked hand in hand with Frank Kruppa and Dominic Rokio at the Health Department," he says. "They would like to see us open. They believe the health of the community is important, mental and physical and spiritual health. We have worked closely with Cayuga Medical Center immunology, Dr. McQueen too. He came through our facility and told us what we should or shouldn't be doing. So we've done everything we can to provide a safe, healthy environment where people can start to get back to really connecting."

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