Moses Lake YMCA project takes step forward

MOSES LAKE — The dream of a YMCA in Moses Lake is a little closer to reality.

“The YMCA ... report has been funded,” said Teresa Fields, who’s been spearheading the effort to bring a Y to town. “Now we wait 90 days and see from there whether an actual YMCA building is sustainable.”

The push for a YMCA began last spring, when Fields and some other community members met with Dorry Foster, CEO of Wenatchee Valley YMCA, to explore the possibility of a branch location in the Moses Lake area. The first step was to fund a study by an outside company to determine whether the community could support a YMCA. That study was going to cost about $20,000, Fields said. But another company could do the same study for about $10,000, she said. As of last week, that money had been collected and the study commissioned.

The first $5,000 came from a construction company in Wenatchee that had local connections, Fields said, and some local residents chipped in several hundred more. The Port of Moses Lake contributed the remaining balance, she said.

“From our perspective, there’s a major group of people in our community that are underserved, and the Y is able to bring in a lot of things that will help with that,” said Port of Moses Lake Business Development Director Richard Hanover.

A YMCA could bring to the area a swimming pool, a gymnasium and meeting areas, but also childcare and an after-school hangout for teens, Foster told the Columbia Basin Herald last year. The Wenatchee facility has all those things, as well as summer camps. Financial aid is available for families who can’t afford the YMCA’s fees.

The Larson Community near the Port would be one possible location, Foster told the Columbia Basin Herald last year. One thing the study will determine is whether there’s enough population within a particular driving distance to make use of the facility, and the Larson Community is accessible not only to Moses Lake but to Ephrata and Soap Lake as well.

Regardless of where a potential facility is located, the Port believes it will benefit the community, Hanover said.

“When they do the study, they determine the best location for the whiteboard, which doesn’t necessarily mean it would be anywhere (the port),” Hanover said. “But we felt like this was something that was needed … having a place for childcare or a swimming pool available for kids that are underserved. There’s just a bunch of stuff that they have available that I don’t feel like our community does a very good job (at providing). And that’s what this study is going to do, is look at our community, where the population sits, what’s the best location if it’s feasible for a Y to be here. And they’ll look at existing services in the community as well.”

    One of the advantages of having a YMCA in Moses Lake would be its facilities for underserved children, which is why the Port of Moses Lake contributed to the cost of the initial study.