March 21, 2026 • 20 mins
Families on the South Shore have relied on, and enjoyed, their local YMCA for more than a century, and that's not changing anytime soon! Tens of thousands of people utilize the South Shore YMCA's programs each year, which include everything from youth programs to social services like a food pantry. Newly appointed President and CEO Trevor Williams says they've got a blueprint to expand their offerings to assist even more residents over the coming years. He talks with Nichole about their new "Together We Thrive" plan and the upcoming "Taste of the South Shore" event.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here we come together talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks again for tuning in this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
Families on the South Shore have been able to rely
on their local YMCA for more than one hundred and
thirty years so far. That's not changing anytime soon. From
(00:28):
youth programs to sports, social services, to early ed and
so much more. Trevor Williams says they've got a plan
to not just keep all of these options going, but
expand those offerings and serve even more people in the
years to come. Trevor is the newly appointed President and
CEO of the South Shore YMCA, and he joins us
now we're going to talk all about their plans. So Trevor,
thank you so much for the time. Let's begin here
(00:50):
with a rundown of your wise history and what you
have to offer for people right now.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, thanks for having me. I would say that if
you have been to a while, you have been to
that why because all wives are a little bit different,
and here on the South Shore we are not different
than that. We have some things that we tend to
focus on a little bit more than others, but we
have a lot of similarities as well. On the South Shore,
(01:15):
we are comprised of twelve different locations, two of which
are what most people think about when they think about
a YMC, a place of the pool in a basketball
court and gymnasiums and weight rooms and all that. Those
would be considered our kind of traditional branches. But the
Sousha Ms also operates the Germantown Neighborhood Food Pantry, which
(01:36):
is right here in Quincy, which is an extremely vital
element to the city where it is a massive resource
for people within food and securities. A little bit further
south and Norway, we operate the Nature Science Center or
what we call the Nature Center. That's a whole educational
(01:57):
piece with a five caroom preschool that is all center
around the natural environment and those kids spend like eighty
percent of their day outside learning about the natural environment
and obviously everything to get them ready to go to school.
A little bit further south than that, we have an
outdoor aquatic center, we have an early learning center. So
(02:19):
we're not all and most wives are like this, They're
not all places with the basketball course, but that's what
most people tend to think about when they think about
the WISE.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Sure, but you're out there in your community and you're
providing services that frankly right now a lot of people
need more than ever.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well that's how WISE were formed, you know, Wise were
formed on community service that was needed in your local community.
So that's why all the WISE don't do the same
things or look the same. Each community might need something different,
and so a really good why is actually serving the
needs of their community. And in many of our communities
(02:57):
in food and security is a big deal, so you'll
see a lot of the WISE are helping out there.
We're also in the state of Massachusetts, the largest provider
of early education in the entire state if you combine
all the wives together. And why are we in that space, Well,
not only have we been doing it since the beginning,
it is such an expensive cost in most people's households,
(03:18):
so the YMCA can only do it at a high
high standard. We also can try to keep the prices
pretty affordable. And then of course every one of our
programs in services has the ability to have financial aid
applied to it. So we are what I consider when
I think about the communities that we serve in. I
(03:40):
think we are the leveling of the playing field for
all socioeconomic classes because everybody can afford to come to
the Why.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
How many people would you say you are serving in
that part of the Commonwealth at this point.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Last year, just at our two large branches, we had
over one million, three hundred visits.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And so you are saying large, large volumes of people
use these programs. But I would say if you just
said individuals, we're serving over sixty thousand individuals in our
communities annually, and those are a lot of people who
come more than once. But if you just took out
the repeat customer and just said, you know, unique people
(04:21):
could be well over sixty thousand people. I'm not even
sure we know how to calculate it. But members aside,
I think we impact a whole lot more people than
just our membership.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well, sure you're not just working in the community, but
you're working with cities and towns and well, we'll talk
a little bit more about your future over there at
the South Shore Why in a minute, but I want
to talk about you for just a few moments, because
you actually, sir, have a new job in a way.
You have been appointed as the president and CEO as
of just about three months ago, maybe three months in,
(04:54):
like a week or two. Tell us a little bit
about your promotion and how you feel about this.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, thanks for asking. Now, this is a very exciting
time for our Why Luckily for me, I had been
the chief operating officer at the Selsial Wife for the
past five years, and then just this past year, the
board had worked with the outgoing president and CEO and
I did to create this whole transition year because we
(05:20):
really believed an organization our size really needed a transition
plan rather than a succession plan, rather than a refresh
or restart. The board was really excited about what we
had been working on in the trajectory and the culture
that we had developed, so they were more interested and
let's keep this rolling and not have any setbacks. So
(05:43):
we had promoted a succession plan, as any large organization
should do. The board was excited about it, and so
luckily for me, I got to take over as the
president and CEO this past January. And so I am
it's oh blessed to be here because it's not a
new organization for me, and nor is it a new
(06:05):
YMCA for me, so with that we can kind of
hit the ground running. And the board put a lot
of time last year into writing our new strategic plan,
which gives me the roadmap for the things we're going
to focus on right out of the gates. So we
haven't missed a beat, you know. I'm really excited about
the team and the group of volunteers that we have
(06:27):
working with us to just kind of keep the momentum going.
It's been a great start to the new year.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, not to mention, I mean, you've been in the
Y movement for something like twenty years or twenty years
plus at this point. So to be able to take
all that experience and that time and all the people
you've met and put it forward into this new leadership role,
I can't imagine how much you have to draw from
from that past experience.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, I appreciate it. It's another fun way of saying that
I've gotten kind of old here.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
That's not what I meant, but okay, I.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Will tell you. It's a culmination of a great career
that has been influenced by some really terrific people, some
great mentors who have all helped me work toward this
goal for a long time, and an organization this size,
you know, you want to make sure you have a
very mature, experienced person to run it, and luckily for me,
(07:22):
hit my age. Now I fit that bill and hopefully
I'll do a great job. But a lot of people
have sewed into me, and I'm hoping to return that
to the not only the next generation, but to reward
the people who have helped me get here. But it's
been a great career. It's been all I've ever done.
I actually didn't even join the YMCA until I was
(07:44):
thirty four, So when you said I've been here for
over twenty years, it's like on top of a lot
of experience in the for profits side of this industry.
So I kind of learned a little bit differently than
most YMCA folks. And then I've applied that to my
passion for helping the community and helping people, and it's
(08:04):
been a match made in heaven ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, you talk about putting energy back into the people
who've helped you and the community that's helped you, and
that kind of segues nicely into this Together We Thrive
strategic plan. You were touching on a few minutes ago.
This is just starting to roll out now. You said,
the board has spent about a year putting this together.
Tell me about how this changes things, if it does
change things at the south Shore why, and what you
(08:28):
really want to focus on moving forward in the coming
months and years with this.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, thanks for asking. This is such an important part
of our start here. So it's a three year plan.
We launched it in January, and this was a year's
worth of work that the board put into listening to
the community. Again, we're here to serve the community, so
by listening to the community and really utilizing a lot
of their community needs assessments that they had accomplished in
(08:52):
the last year. That could be the City of Quincy,
the Town of hanover all, the major hospitals and so on.
We took all their research and said, all right, here's
what they're identifying as the needs of our community. How
can we help Where do we fit into that? And
we identified five pillars that we think if we can
help focus on, it will not only strengthen this why,
(09:15):
but it'll strengthen our whole community. The five pillars are
not going to shock you, but we want to go
much deeper. And have a much bigger impact than all
of them. So the first one is to expand youth,
team and family programming, because as we listen to the community,
what we hear is that families just continue to need
a place to be together. It brings the whole community together,
(09:38):
and it also allows families to either go to work
or continue to prosper while we take care of their kids,
whether that be teaching them how to swim or something
that they all do together. So that's our first thing.
We've already got out of the gates pretty strong until
a number one. We just opened nine thousand square foot
(09:59):
group sorry excuse me, a gymnastics center here in Quincy,
and from what we could find, it's the only gymnastics
center that's in Quincy, and we think it's going to
serve a great deal of population here that has been
probably driving out of the city to go find this
product or to participate in this way, and we just
want to bring more people into that kind of programming.
(10:20):
So we're off to a good start there. The second
pillar was to increase impact invisibility to what we call
medical wellness programs. So a lot of people would hear
that and think what's a medical wellness program. We serve
a lot of people, you know, post post surgery, post cancer,
(10:42):
or pre diabetes, and so there's a lot of programming
that would support that. For example, our Stay Strong program
is a cancer survivor program for anybody who's been diagnosed
with cancer. The sweet spot for us is when they're
just about finished with their treatments. You know that patient
now is saying, Hey, what's next for me? And the
(11:03):
next step is to come to the why. It's a
free program, you don't have to be a member. Your
whole entire family's going to get a free membership. The
kids are going to get all kinds of benefits. We're
going to take your whole support network. We're going to
support them all. But that program is essential to someone
getting back their strength a routine and they're going to
(11:23):
be surrounded by a whole bunch of other cancer survivors
and people who understand cancer very well. And I think
it's a not only a socio like a social setting
to express yourself and be around like minded people, but
it's also going to hopefully get your strength back. That's
an example of a medical wellness program. The wise do
(11:44):
them very very well, we are not the doctors, but
we are hopefully the next thing after your doctor tells
you you're kind of on your own. Third pillars to
elevate the member experience. So this is in our own
best interest to make sure that we create communities within
the bigger community. So we want our members to feel
(12:06):
like this is their second home. And the more we
can know them and know about them and put them
in smaller groups where they know each other, the better
we'll be. We're really seeing and trying to address social
isolization with that goal, not only for seniors who are
at home, maybe living in the house that they've been
in for a while by themselves and not getting out enough,
(12:27):
but it's also for teams who were finding are just
spending way too much time either in groups, but on
their phone or home all So we think that that's
going to have a great deal of help there, and
that's one of the things we heard from every community
needs assessment with social isolization. It's a big, big, upcoming problem.
(12:49):
Fourth pillar was to really work out our own staff
prioritize staff retention through workforce development. And this might be
a funny one because when I tell people this, they
think it's a little else serving like, well, that's going
to help the Why Actually, it's going to help a
lot of things because if we can keep great employees
here employed in our community and they don't leave our community,
(13:10):
it actually helps housing, it helps social services. It's a
wrap around concept. We need to keep our employees really happy,
we need to keep them career growth and development. If
we can do that, we will absolutely help the community
with their with their needs as well. And then the
fifth is to optimize the facilities in our infrastructure. So
(13:33):
one of the things that South Shore or YMC is
best known for is its facilities. These are fantastic facilities,
every single one of our twelve locations, but the two
major branches. These are some of the biggest YMC is
in the country and they're spectacular. They serve a lot
of people and it's been very important for us to
(13:54):
utilize them in a way that we can serve as
many people as possible. Those are the five pillars. You
can only imagine how how many sub bullets are under
every one of them.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
What are you hearing from your not customers, that's not
the right word, but the people who use your facilities,
do they tend to agree with this program. Do they
have any other suggestions? What have you heard so far?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
It's a great question, because the members are the heart
of the organization, right The members are the YMCA. So
the membership or the YMCA is led by volunteers a
volunteer board. They are non paid volunteer board, and they
ac set the tone for the whole organization. So you
start at the top with volunteers, and our members are
(14:36):
no different. The members are the most passionate people about
the YMCA. They obviously could join anywhere they wanted to
if they felt like it was just about getting access
to a treadmill or getting access to a strength equipment
like other people have that too, of course, but I
think they joined the why because they take a great
deal of pride in the fact that by being part
of a community organization, you're actually serving and helping the community.
(15:00):
And that's where it just starts. So then you take
a member who says, well, I want to help out
with the Hope for the Holidays program or the Thanksgiving drive,
or I want to come to one of the events,
or I want to spend some time helping other people,
or just being here every day lifting the spirits of
someone who might need it. Right, that's where community really starts.
(15:20):
And I know our members I love the Why for that.
I hope it's their second happiest place outside of their
own home. I hope it's their second happiest place to
go every day. And the last part of the question
you asked about what do I hear from them? I
hear wonderful, uplifting and very inspirational stories daily. That's what
(15:41):
happens at a Why. But if they had their way,
they would want me to add more and more facilities
to these already very large facilities.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Of course they do. I mean that they need more pools,
and they want more tennis courts, and I mean I
think they want to enjoy those facilities. But unfortunately doing
that requires money. We all hate to talk about, but
it's true it does. And tell me a little bit
about how people can support you. You've got this great
event coming up, Taste of the South Shore. We'll talk
about that in a minute. But if somebody in the
(16:10):
community wants to give back to the Why, but they
haven't really been sure, how you know, can local businesses
donate to you? Can nonprofits? How can they help you
in this.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Mission well as a charitable nonprofit five oh one C three.
This allows us the ability to not only raise charitable funds,
but in a really strong YMC like mine, one hundred
percent of those funds, one hundred percent of every dollar
goes toward whatever we're raising it for. So because of
the strength of the YMC, because of the strength of
(16:40):
the organization, we can take a charitable dollar and apply
it in a one hundred percent toward whatever that might be.
And I think my answer to this question would simply be,
let me talk to the person, because we'll have something
that I bet they'll be interested in serving. Now, remember
the YMSA serves infants and and everybody in between. So
(17:03):
whatever that person's passions are, whatever their interests are, I
bet you we have something that would appeal to them
more than just by saying, hey, we do one thing
or two things in a charitable fashion. We do hundreds
of things in a charitable fashion, so it's not uncommon,
and I can find two or three things that light
them up very quickly, and then we have a really
(17:26):
robust conversation going about how excited they are to help
out with that. So I would encourage anybody who wants
to get involved with the YMCA and support is just
reach out to your local YMCA leaders and ask them
how you can help. And I bet that conversation that
goes for the next few minutes is really exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
One Taste of the South Shore this is happening in
May Wednesday, May sixth. Tell me about what somebody who
goes to this event is going to experience when they
get there.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
All right, the Taste of this Shore is so a
unique event. So this is a collection of the best
chefs in our area, all donating their time to a
really great cause and is this year we're focusing on
child growth and development, and so they are going to
compete against each other to serve the best tastes of
(18:13):
the South Shore and we will award one of those chefs,
one of those restaurants the award every year. So they're
going to bring their best and as a participant, you
get to sample over I think there's forty to fifty
booths of different foods and drinks and you get to
play the game with us to try to pick who
(18:33):
was the best taste. And while we're doing all that,
of course, we're selling tickets and getting sponsorship for this event,
and all that money, all that donated dollar goes toward
are all of our youth serving programs that support families
and the kids that are in them. So we're really
(18:54):
excited about this event. This is not the first time
we've done this. I think we're really in the high twenties,
if not almost thirty years of doing this. But it
gets bigger and grander and more extravagant every year.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
This is super exciting and the South Shore honestly has
so many great chefs and so many amazing restaurants. It's
going to be worth it no matter what you have
to do to get there. I would say it is
a night not to miss.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I would agree it is a fantastic event. I know
I'm biased in saying that, but if I wasn't even
associated to the why this is the event I'd bring
my wife to every year. No question.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Where can people go to get tickets for this event,
because I'm sure they're going to start selling out pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
YEP, tickets are available on our website. You can also
just call any one of the South Shore YMCA branches,
but tickets are available easiest through the website. You'll find
all the information, dates, times, and all the arrangement sets.
The ss YMCA dot org short for Sushore YMCA dot org,
and you'll have all the information right that. You can
(19:54):
buy tickets right online.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
All right, great, and again ss YMCA dot org. That
is where somebody wants to donate, they want to volunteer,
or they want to sign up and get a membership.
They can do it all there.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
As well, right, do it all right there?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yep, all right, beautiful. Well, Trevor, this is really exciting
and congratulations to you on your new gig. I really
look forward to seeing what comes next in the next
few years for the South Shore YMCA.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Thanks for the time, Nicole, Thanks again for having me.
It's been a great deal of fun.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Happy Spring, by the way,
Join us again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here we come together talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks again for tuning in this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
Families on the South Shore have been able to rely
on their local YMCA for more than one hundred and
thirty years so far. That's not changing anytime soon. From
(00:28):
youth programs to sports, social services, to early ed and
so much more. Trevor Williams says they've got a plan
to not just keep all of these options going, but
expand those offerings and serve even more people in the
years to come. Trevor is the newly appointed President and
CEO of the South Shore YMCA, and he joins us
now we're going to talk all about their plans. So Trevor,
thank you so much for the time. Let's begin here
(00:50):
with a rundown of your wise history and what you
have to offer for people right now.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, thanks for having me. I would say that if
you have been to a while, you have been to
that why because all wives are a little bit different,
and here on the South Shore we are not different
than that. We have some things that we tend to
focus on a little bit more than others, but we
have a lot of similarities as well. On the South Shore,
(01:15):
we are comprised of twelve different locations, two of which
are what most people think about when they think about
a YMC, a place of the pool in a basketball
court and gymnasiums and weight rooms and all that. Those
would be considered our kind of traditional branches. But the
Sousha Ms also operates the Germantown Neighborhood Food Pantry, which
(01:36):
is right here in Quincy, which is an extremely vital
element to the city where it is a massive resource
for people within food and securities. A little bit further
south and Norway, we operate the Nature Science Center or
what we call the Nature Center. That's a whole educational
(01:57):
piece with a five caroom preschool that is all center
around the natural environment and those kids spend like eighty
percent of their day outside learning about the natural environment
and obviously everything to get them ready to go to school.
A little bit further south than that, we have an
outdoor aquatic center, we have an early learning center. So
(02:19):
we're not all and most wives are like this, They're
not all places with the basketball course, but that's what
most people tend to think about when they think about
the WISE.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Sure, but you're out there in your community and you're
providing services that frankly right now a lot of people
need more than ever.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well that's how WISE were formed, you know, Wise were
formed on community service that was needed in your local community.
So that's why all the WISE don't do the same
things or look the same. Each community might need something different,
and so a really good why is actually serving the
needs of their community. And in many of our communities
(02:57):
in food and security is a big deal, so you'll
see a lot of the WISE are helping out there.
We're also in the state of Massachusetts, the largest provider
of early education in the entire state if you combine
all the wives together. And why are we in that space, Well,
not only have we been doing it since the beginning,
it is such an expensive cost in most people's households,
(03:18):
so the YMCA can only do it at a high
high standard. We also can try to keep the prices
pretty affordable. And then of course every one of our
programs in services has the ability to have financial aid
applied to it. So we are what I consider when
I think about the communities that we serve in. I
(03:40):
think we are the leveling of the playing field for
all socioeconomic classes because everybody can afford to come to
the Why.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
How many people would you say you are serving in
that part of the Commonwealth at this point.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Last year, just at our two large branches, we had
over one million, three hundred visits.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And so you are saying large, large volumes of people
use these programs. But I would say if you just
said individuals, we're serving over sixty thousand individuals in our
communities annually, and those are a lot of people who
come more than once. But if you just took out
the repeat customer and just said, you know, unique people
(04:21):
could be well over sixty thousand people. I'm not even
sure we know how to calculate it. But members aside,
I think we impact a whole lot more people than
just our membership.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well, sure you're not just working in the community, but
you're working with cities and towns and well, we'll talk
a little bit more about your future over there at
the South Shore Why in a minute, but I want
to talk about you for just a few moments, because
you actually, sir, have a new job in a way.
You have been appointed as the president and CEO as
of just about three months ago, maybe three months in,
(04:54):
like a week or two. Tell us a little bit
about your promotion and how you feel about this.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, thanks for asking. Now, this is a very exciting
time for our Why Luckily for me, I had been
the chief operating officer at the Selsial Wife for the
past five years, and then just this past year, the
board had worked with the outgoing president and CEO and
I did to create this whole transition year because we
(05:20):
really believed an organization our size really needed a transition
plan rather than a succession plan, rather than a refresh
or restart. The board was really excited about what we
had been working on in the trajectory and the culture
that we had developed, so they were more interested and
let's keep this rolling and not have any setbacks. So
(05:43):
we had promoted a succession plan, as any large organization
should do. The board was excited about it, and so
luckily for me, I got to take over as the
president and CEO this past January. And so I am
it's oh blessed to be here because it's not a
new organization for me, and nor is it a new
(06:05):
YMCA for me, so with that we can kind of
hit the ground running. And the board put a lot
of time last year into writing our new strategic plan,
which gives me the roadmap for the things we're going
to focus on right out of the gates. So we
haven't missed a beat, you know. I'm really excited about
the team and the group of volunteers that we have
(06:27):
working with us to just kind of keep the momentum going.
It's been a great start to the new year.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, not to mention, I mean, you've been in the
Y movement for something like twenty years or twenty years
plus at this point. So to be able to take
all that experience and that time and all the people
you've met and put it forward into this new leadership role,
I can't imagine how much you have to draw from
from that past experience.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, I appreciate it. It's another fun way of saying that
I've gotten kind of old here.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
That's not what I meant, but okay, I.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Will tell you. It's a culmination of a great career
that has been influenced by some really terrific people, some
great mentors who have all helped me work toward this
goal for a long time, and an organization this size,
you know, you want to make sure you have a
very mature, experienced person to run it, and luckily for me,
(07:22):
hit my age. Now I fit that bill and hopefully
I'll do a great job. But a lot of people
have sewed into me, and I'm hoping to return that
to the not only the next generation, but to reward
the people who have helped me get here. But it's
been a great career. It's been all I've ever done.
I actually didn't even join the YMCA until I was
(07:44):
thirty four, So when you said I've been here for
over twenty years, it's like on top of a lot
of experience in the for profits side of this industry.
So I kind of learned a little bit differently than
most YMCA folks. And then I've applied that to my
passion for helping the community and helping people, and it's
(08:04):
been a match made in heaven ever since.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, you talk about putting energy back into the people
who've helped you and the community that's helped you, and
that kind of segues nicely into this Together We Thrive
strategic plan. You were touching on a few minutes ago.
This is just starting to roll out now. You said,
the board has spent about a year putting this together.
Tell me about how this changes things, if it does
change things at the south Shore why, and what you
(08:28):
really want to focus on moving forward in the coming
months and years with this.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, thanks for asking. This is such an important part
of our start here. So it's a three year plan.
We launched it in January, and this was a year's
worth of work that the board put into listening to
the community. Again, we're here to serve the community, so
by listening to the community and really utilizing a lot
of their community needs assessments that they had accomplished in
(08:52):
the last year. That could be the City of Quincy,
the Town of hanover all, the major hospitals and so on.
We took all their research and said, all right, here's
what they're identifying as the needs of our community. How
can we help Where do we fit into that? And
we identified five pillars that we think if we can
help focus on, it will not only strengthen this why,
(09:15):
but it'll strengthen our whole community. The five pillars are
not going to shock you, but we want to go
much deeper. And have a much bigger impact than all
of them. So the first one is to expand youth,
team and family programming, because as we listen to the community,
what we hear is that families just continue to need
a place to be together. It brings the whole community together,
(09:38):
and it also allows families to either go to work
or continue to prosper while we take care of their kids,
whether that be teaching them how to swim or something
that they all do together. So that's our first thing.
We've already got out of the gates pretty strong until
a number one. We just opened nine thousand square foot
(09:59):
group sorry excuse me, a gymnastics center here in Quincy,
and from what we could find, it's the only gymnastics
center that's in Quincy, and we think it's going to
serve a great deal of population here that has been
probably driving out of the city to go find this
product or to participate in this way, and we just
want to bring more people into that kind of programming.
(10:20):
So we're off to a good start there. The second
pillar was to increase impact invisibility to what we call
medical wellness programs. So a lot of people would hear
that and think what's a medical wellness program. We serve
a lot of people, you know, post post surgery, post cancer,
(10:42):
or pre diabetes, and so there's a lot of programming
that would support that. For example, our Stay Strong program
is a cancer survivor program for anybody who's been diagnosed
with cancer. The sweet spot for us is when they're
just about finished with their treatments. You know that patient
now is saying, Hey, what's next for me? And the
(11:03):
next step is to come to the why. It's a
free program, you don't have to be a member. Your
whole entire family's going to get a free membership. The
kids are going to get all kinds of benefits. We're
going to take your whole support network. We're going to
support them all. But that program is essential to someone
getting back their strength a routine and they're going to
(11:23):
be surrounded by a whole bunch of other cancer survivors
and people who understand cancer very well. And I think
it's a not only a socio like a social setting
to express yourself and be around like minded people, but
it's also going to hopefully get your strength back. That's
an example of a medical wellness program. The wise do
(11:44):
them very very well, we are not the doctors, but
we are hopefully the next thing after your doctor tells
you you're kind of on your own. Third pillars to
elevate the member experience. So this is in our own
best interest to make sure that we create communities within
the bigger community. So we want our members to feel
(12:06):
like this is their second home. And the more we
can know them and know about them and put them
in smaller groups where they know each other, the better
we'll be. We're really seeing and trying to address social
isolization with that goal, not only for seniors who are
at home, maybe living in the house that they've been
in for a while by themselves and not getting out enough,
(12:27):
but it's also for teams who were finding are just
spending way too much time either in groups, but on
their phone or home all So we think that that's
going to have a great deal of help there, and
that's one of the things we heard from every community
needs assessment with social isolization. It's a big, big, upcoming problem.
(12:49):
Fourth pillar was to really work out our own staff
prioritize staff retention through workforce development. And this might be
a funny one because when I tell people this, they
think it's a little else serving like, well, that's going
to help the Why Actually, it's going to help a
lot of things because if we can keep great employees
here employed in our community and they don't leave our community,
(13:10):
it actually helps housing, it helps social services. It's a
wrap around concept. We need to keep our employees really happy,
we need to keep them career growth and development. If
we can do that, we will absolutely help the community
with their with their needs as well. And then the
fifth is to optimize the facilities in our infrastructure. So
(13:33):
one of the things that South Shore or YMC is
best known for is its facilities. These are fantastic facilities,
every single one of our twelve locations, but the two
major branches. These are some of the biggest YMC is
in the country and they're spectacular. They serve a lot
of people and it's been very important for us to
(13:54):
utilize them in a way that we can serve as
many people as possible. Those are the five pillars. You
can only imagine how how many sub bullets are under
every one of them.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
What are you hearing from your not customers, that's not
the right word, but the people who use your facilities,
do they tend to agree with this program. Do they
have any other suggestions? What have you heard so far?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
It's a great question, because the members are the heart
of the organization, right The members are the YMCA. So
the membership or the YMCA is led by volunteers a
volunteer board. They are non paid volunteer board, and they
ac set the tone for the whole organization. So you
start at the top with volunteers, and our members are
(14:36):
no different. The members are the most passionate people about
the YMCA. They obviously could join anywhere they wanted to
if they felt like it was just about getting access
to a treadmill or getting access to a strength equipment
like other people have that too, of course, but I
think they joined the why because they take a great
deal of pride in the fact that by being part
of a community organization, you're actually serving and helping the community.
(15:00):
And that's where it just starts. So then you take
a member who says, well, I want to help out
with the Hope for the Holidays program or the Thanksgiving drive,
or I want to come to one of the events,
or I want to spend some time helping other people,
or just being here every day lifting the spirits of
someone who might need it. Right, that's where community really starts.
(15:20):
And I know our members I love the Why for that.
I hope it's their second happiest place outside of their
own home. I hope it's their second happiest place to
go every day. And the last part of the question
you asked about what do I hear from them? I
hear wonderful, uplifting and very inspirational stories daily. That's what
(15:41):
happens at a Why. But if they had their way,
they would want me to add more and more facilities
to these already very large facilities.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Of course they do. I mean that they need more pools,
and they want more tennis courts, and I mean I
think they want to enjoy those facilities. But unfortunately doing
that requires money. We all hate to talk about, but
it's true it does. And tell me a little bit
about how people can support you. You've got this great
event coming up, Taste of the South Shore. We'll talk
about that in a minute. But if somebody in the
(16:10):
community wants to give back to the Why, but they
haven't really been sure, how you know, can local businesses
donate to you? Can nonprofits? How can they help you
in this.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Mission well as a charitable nonprofit five oh one C three.
This allows us the ability to not only raise charitable funds,
but in a really strong YMC like mine, one hundred
percent of those funds, one hundred percent of every dollar
goes toward whatever we're raising it for. So because of
the strength of the YMC, because of the strength of
(16:40):
the organization, we can take a charitable dollar and apply
it in a one hundred percent toward whatever that might be.
And I think my answer to this question would simply be,
let me talk to the person, because we'll have something
that I bet they'll be interested in serving. Now, remember
the YMSA serves infants and and everybody in between. So
(17:03):
whatever that person's passions are, whatever their interests are, I
bet you we have something that would appeal to them
more than just by saying, hey, we do one thing
or two things in a charitable fashion. We do hundreds
of things in a charitable fashion, so it's not uncommon,
and I can find two or three things that light
them up very quickly, and then we have a really
(17:26):
robust conversation going about how excited they are to help
out with that. So I would encourage anybody who wants
to get involved with the YMCA and support is just
reach out to your local YMCA leaders and ask them
how you can help. And I bet that conversation that
goes for the next few minutes is really exciting.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
One Taste of the South Shore this is happening in
May Wednesday, May sixth. Tell me about what somebody who
goes to this event is going to experience when they
get there.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
All right, the Taste of this Shore is so a
unique event. So this is a collection of the best
chefs in our area, all donating their time to a
really great cause and is this year we're focusing on
child growth and development, and so they are going to
compete against each other to serve the best tastes of
(18:13):
the South Shore and we will award one of those chefs,
one of those restaurants the award every year. So they're
going to bring their best and as a participant, you
get to sample over I think there's forty to fifty
booths of different foods and drinks and you get to
play the game with us to try to pick who
(18:33):
was the best taste. And while we're doing all that,
of course, we're selling tickets and getting sponsorship for this event,
and all that money, all that donated dollar goes toward
are all of our youth serving programs that support families
and the kids that are in them. So we're really
(18:54):
excited about this event. This is not the first time
we've done this. I think we're really in the high twenties,
if not almost thirty years of doing this. But it
gets bigger and grander and more extravagant every year.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
This is super exciting and the South Shore honestly has
so many great chefs and so many amazing restaurants. It's
going to be worth it no matter what you have
to do to get there. I would say it is
a night not to miss.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I would agree it is a fantastic event. I know
I'm biased in saying that, but if I wasn't even
associated to the why this is the event I'd bring
my wife to every year. No question.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Where can people go to get tickets for this event,
because I'm sure they're going to start selling out pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
YEP, tickets are available on our website. You can also
just call any one of the South Shore YMCA branches,
but tickets are available easiest through the website. You'll find
all the information, dates, times, and all the arrangement sets.
The ss YMCA dot org short for Sushore YMCA dot org,
and you'll have all the information right that. You can
(19:54):
buy tickets right online.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
All right, great, and again ss YMCA dot org. That
is where somebody wants to donate, they want to volunteer,
or they want to sign up and get a membership.
They can do it all there.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
As well, right, do it all right there?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yep, all right, beautiful. Well, Trevor, this is really exciting
and congratulations to you on your new gig. I really
look forward to seeing what comes next in the next
few years for the South Shore YMCA.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Thanks for the time, Nicole, Thanks again for having me.
It's been a great deal of fun.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Happy Spring, by the way,
Join us again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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