LYNCHBURG, Va. – The YMCA in downtown Lynchburg is one step closer to getting a makeover.
On Tuesday, the YMCA of Central Virginia announced an $11.5 million capital campaign goal to renovate the Downtown YMCA on Church Street.
The Downtown YMCA will be transformed into the Schewel-Clark Family YMCA upon the successful completion of the campaign, leaders said.
In November of 2021, the YMCA of Central Virginia announced a donation that helped kick-start that goal – a donation of $2M.
As we reported, the current facility was built in 1956 and we were told that the renovations were “long overdue.”
Cindy Forren, the incoming President of the Board, gave a progress update on the campaign at the Y’s Impact Celebration Tuesday.
“Under Marc’s leadership as the Chair of the Building for a Better US! Capital Campaign, I am also very excited to announce that through the generous support of over 100 community leaders, Board members, and staff – we have now raised over $7.6 million toward our $11.5 million campaign goal,” Forren said.
According to the YMCA, the building will be transformed into a new three-story, 23,000-square-foot facility to replace the lower portion of the building that faces Church Street.
Called the ‘Y of the future,’ the new facility will provide an open, welcoming environment with new areas for the community to gather and participate in health programs, youth education and support, individual and group wellness, and family programming, leaders said.
There are several new features of the Schewel-Clark Family YMCA, according to the Y:
- A state-of-the-art, over 6,000 square-foot wellness center,
- Large studios for group exercise,
- A youth learning center for children’s academic opportunities, as well as a community space for area partners,
- A large multi-purpose room called the Community Center for other programs and meetings,
- A Teen Center space for safe and structured programming for teens,
- An interactive two-story Kids Adventure Zone play area for children from ages five to twelve,
- A child watch area for the care of infants through five-year-olds,
- A kitchen for teaching purposes.
You can learn more about the project and the campaign below or here.