Greensburg YMCA raises $16K for a new front entrance

The Greensburg YMCA’s annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors fundraising event raised $16,000 toward a project to update the building’s main entrance.

Christine Marquis, senior operations director, said the doors that currently welcome patrons are heavy and can be difficult to open without using the handicap access mechanism. Marquis said the front doors can be slow to open once the button is pressed, and the second set of doors at the entrance may not open at all.

To replace the doors, the YMCA will have to replace the entire entryway.

“It’s for safety — we don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Marquis said.

The project would remedy safety concerns and maintain the architectural style of the building on South Maple Avenue, which was constructed in 1913.

Estimated costs and timelines for the repairs are not set in stone, but YMCA leaders hope to raise $20,000 to finance the project.

The Greensburg YMCA has hosted Neighbors Helping Neighbors in partnership with nearby J. Corks restaurant for more than a decade.

Representatives from First Commonwealth Advisors, Iron Belt Partners and InFirst Bank were just some of the 70 attendees at the fundraiser, Marquis said.

“It was wonderful,” Marquis said. “Those people who know the Y really invest in the Y… we’re close, we’re personal.”

Many of the staff at the Greensburg YMCA have been frequenting the historical brick building for decades.

Marquis spent her youth at the YMCA in Greensburg as a gymnast before joining the staff. Michael Stewart, a member of the YMCA’s board of trustees and a heritage sponsor of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors event, said that he has had a relationship with the YMCA for more than 50 years.

“When I was in high school at Hempfield, I used to teach a phys ed class,” Stewart recalled. “I’ve coached my kids in basketball, and I go there and play racquetball three days a week. So it’s just part of my life.”

Both Marquis and Deborah King, director of membership at the Greensburg YMCA, said that Stewart always takes a lead role in organizing the event. Planning begins in January, when invitations are sent to sponsors accompanied by handwritten notes from Stewart.

Marquis described Stewart as the YMCA’s “biggest advocate.”

Each year, the YMCA uses the funds from Neighbors Helping Neighbors to update the building.

“Just even turning on the lights of this beautiful old building takes a lot of money,” Marquis said. “Just like any nonprofit organization, we’re still trying to come back from covid, but we’re coming back so, so strong.”

“There’s a special affection for that building,” Stewart said.