At 50, Jefferson City Area YMCA looks great

Pat Gladbach laughs with her students Friday during the water aerobics class she teaches at Knowles YMCA. Gladbach has been an instructor at the Knowles location for more than 40 years, and she teaches fitness classes three days a week.
Pat Gladbach laughs with her students Friday during the water aerobics class she teaches at Knowles YMCA. Gladbach has been an instructor at the Knowles location for more than 40 years, and she teaches fitness classes three days a week.

The Jefferson City Area YMCA is celebrating its 50th year in 2020.

The Young Men's Christian Association, a 126-year-old organization, arrived in Jefferson City in 1970.

Jack Sanders, a now-retired Jefferson City cardiologist, was involved from the beginning in 1969. Sanders said, in addition to successes in the health care field and raising a family, the impact of the Jefferson City YMCA is something he is most proud of.

"All my kids were turning to teenagers," Sanders said. "I felt we needed a Y in Jefferson City. We had a town meeting at the Governor Hotel. We didn't know how many people to expect, but about 200 showed up."

The nonprofit - which focuses on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility - had humble beginnings here. After receiving a charter, it set up shop in a small building alongside an alley behind Exchange National Bank (now Hawthorn Bank).

The organization leased the tiny space from the Jefferson City Housing Authority. Most programs were offered in area schools and churches.

"It was a pretty big success," Sanders said. "That was one of the most important things I was involved with in the community."

The YMCA thrived and grew in the Capital City over the next five decades to include three sites, which is unique for a community its size.

The YMCA raised enough money by 1976 to begin the first phase of the Knowles Center, 424 Stadium Blvd., which contained an indoor swimming pool, multi-purpose room, two racquetball courts, locker rooms and an office complex on 12 acres. Ten years later, it grew with additions of a double gym, indoor track, training equipment room, nursery, kitchen and meeting room.

The next big growth in the area YMCA came in 1989, when Joan and Art Firley donated about $1.25 million to the organization to purchase the Jefferson City Racquet Club at 525 Ellis Blvd. The site, which became the YMCA's Firley Center, included 10 tennis courts (six of which are outdoors), an aerobics room, inspiration center, outdoor pool, matted room for gymnastics, large banquet room and major fitness center. The site also contained a restaurant with a bar, kitchen and meeting rooms, which were all converted over four years to a state-of-the-art fitness center with machine weights, free weights and cardiovascular equipment.

 

Growing pains

But the additional site came as the YMCA was experiencing growing pains and financial troubles. In the winter of 1990-91, the YMCA was paying 9.5 percent interest on a $600,000 debt. It struggled to make its monthly payroll.

The organization's board ousted the sitting executive director and brought in George Hartsfield.

Hartsfield's first day was a Monday, he said, and payday was the following Friday. However, the nonprofit didn't have enough money to meet payroll. Fortunately, staff members were able to collect enough money to meet payroll obligations. A lot of work needed to be done, he said.

"My first few years, the biggest challenge was to get it financially strong. I'd say that's probably why they brought me in," said Hartsfield, who now lives in Florida.

Debt wasn't from property improvements, he continued.

"They were operating in the red," Hartsfield said. "Expenses exceeded revenues."

The organization lost about $35,000 in 1990. Making matters worse, Hartsfield could find no records to help identify where or why the loss had occurred. And the U.S. Department of Labor had fined the YMCA for violations of labor laws, Hartsfield said.

The local organization didn't have any human resources department. It had no written policies. One of Hartsfield's first moves was to create a volunteer human resources committee - made up of leading human resource directors for local agencies.

Under the committee's direction, the YMCA set up a Hay System to create job performance evaluations. It created job descriptions and policies, which clarified responsibilities and gave employees ideas of what their roles were in the organization.

Changes Hartsfield undertook were intended to demonstrate that improvements to facilities, programs and member services were inseparable from improvements to revenue, wages and working conditions.

When he began, the YMCA had 18 full-time employees and about 90 part-time employees. It had 2,800 members.

He implemented marketing campaigns and grew the client base. He continued improvements.

When he left the organization in 2009, it had 5,300 members and was in the midst of constructing a third facility at the intersection of Amazonas and Alameda drives. The YMCA now employs 250 people, 49 full time.

The expansion to western Jefferson City may be the part of his tenure with the YMCA that Hartsfield holds most dear.

"If I had to pick one thing, I'd say starting the West Y," he said. "We looked at property for about a year because I wanted to be close to the hub in the West - Truman Boulevard and Highway 50.

"I wanted to stay long enough to know it was going to happen. And the steel was up."

That was when he knew he could step aside.

Over his two decades directing the organization, Jefferson City's two YMCA sites expanded. The organization built an annex to the Knowles site.

In 2005, the YMCA bought the Masonic Temple at 603 Ellis Blvd. for $1 million and soon began converting it into the Child Development Center.

In 2010, at a cost of about $3.4 million, the YMCA opened the third site in Jefferson City - the West YMCA.

The organization also now helps operate a Southern Boone Area YMCA at 101 W. Broadway St. in Ashland. The Southern Boone group bought 15 acres and began a capital campaign in 2018 to raise money to build a new facility. The organization set a goal of $3.9 million and has raised $3.7 million (which includes a $2 million loan), according to the Southern Boone Area YMCA's website.

 

Three unique sites

All three Jefferson City YMCA locations offer fitness centers, locker rooms, saunas, steam rooms and nurseries (for use while parents are working out). While this is not intended to be a complete list of their programs, each of the three sites offers something unique.

For example, the West YMCA offers a group exercise room that accommodates very large groups.

West, along with the Knowles YMCA location, offers a Kids Center, where parents may leave small children for short periods while they exercise.

At Firley, there are multipurpose, basketball and racquetball courts. Firley contains a climbing wall. An outdoor pool at the site offers seasonal water programs.

Knowles has year-round water programs in its indoor pool.

Pat Gladbach and her husband moved to Jefferson City in 1971, and the next year, she decided to take swimming-instructor courses.

It wasn't long before Bill Knowles - an instrumental figure in bringing YMCA services to Jefferson City - called Gladbach and asked her to come onboard to teach swimming lessons.

"I taught in a pool in the basement where the Miller Performing Arts Center is now," Gladbach said.

(The structure first opened in 1926 as Jefferson City Junior College. It has served as a high school, junior high school and academic center before its transformation into the performing arts center.)

The pool at the new Knowles location opened in 1978.

"That was when we started a much more extended program. In the '80s, we started some water fitness classes," she said. "I still teach one of those classes. I was the youngest in the class, but now, they're all my age."

Water-based aerobics classes aren't necessarily focused on older adults, Gladbach said. The classes - like Zumba - are intended to give participants a good workout while they are enjoying themselves.

There are advantages to exercising in a pool, she said.

"At a certain point in your life, it's easier to work out in water rather than out of water," Gladbach explained. "The water gives you balance and protects you from the impact of jumping around."

At 74, Gladbach continues to teach a fitness class three mornings each week.

"It's been good for me personally. I love to do it, and it's good for my health," she said. "It's been a win-win."

The YMCA Child Development Center stands alongside Firley YMCA. The center offers all-day care for children ages newborn through 5, said Shelly Poire, Jefferson City Area YMCA director of development and marketing.

The center uses the Creative Curriculum in planning daily activities for up to 125 children. Its philosophy is to give children learning opportunities by involving them in their environment. The program has proven to build social-emotional, cognitive, language and motor skills. For rates, hours and contact information, go to jcymca.org.

The program uses Conscious Discipline - an evidence-based approach to social-emotional learning that fosters a safe, connected, problem-solving environment for families, according to the website.

Questions about the center should be directed to Sunny Carron or Angie Bax at 573-636-6665.