MARSHALL — When Minnesota fitness centers were ordered to close down during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marshall Area YMCA had to adapt, CEO Tom Bolin said. In 2020, the Y served hundreds of people through virtual fitness classes and support for essential workers. But when the public didn’t have access to YMCA facilities, membership numbers dropped.
“COVID definitely had an impact,” Bolin said. “I think YMCAs and fitness facilities in general were affected.”
Membership numbers at the Marshall Area YMCA have slowly grown over the past year, but they’re not back at pre-COVID levels, Bolin said Monday.
“We are, I’d say, one-third of the way back to pre-COVID (memberships),” Bolin said. Growing memberships is one of the things the YMCA is focusing on as they plan for the future, he said.
“We’re asking people to continue to support us,” Bolin said. “The Y offers a multitude of really critical resources for the community.” Besides physical fitness resources, the Y is a place for family and social interactions that are important for mental health, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges for the Marshall Y over the past year and a half.
“Things were going very well in January and February 2020,” Bolin said. But when COVID-19 spread to Minnesota, businesses including fitness centers were placed under mandated shutdowns. The Y was closed for a total of 112 days in 2020, first from mid-March through mid-June, and then again in November and December.
“That second one had a larger impact on us,” Bolin said. In February 2020, the Marshall Y had 2,192 membership units. “In December during that second shutdown, we got down to 1,445,” he said. Membership numbers slowly recovered over summer 2021, but they’re still not what they were before the shutdowns began, Bolin said.
Having fewer memberships and program fees meant less income during 2020, but grants and Paycheck Protection Program funding helped keep the Y operating.
“We’ve been lucky to get two rounds of PPP,” Bolin said.
During the pandemic, the YMCA also continued to serve the public, Bolin said.
“The Y wasn’t physically open, but the organization was as busy as it’s ever been,” he said. They offered virtual fitness classes, and loaned out exercise equipment to Y members. The YMCA also called to check in on about 600 senior members during the COVID closure, and turned facilities space over to needed community services like blood drives and distance learning. When area schools went virtual, a total of 73 children of essential workers attended distance learning at the YMCA.
Now that the Y is open to the public again, there are still COVID-19 safety precautions in place. Bolin said operations were about 90% normal, but YMCA facilities are still frequently disinfected, and some changes have been made to allow for greater distancing in the fitness center and at classes.
“It’s been a slow, gradual change to normalcy,” Bolin said.
At the same time, memberships are still an important source of revenue for the YMCA, Bolin said. The Y is reaching out with marketing to grow membership numbers, and hopefully more members will come back during the winter months, he said.
Before the COVID pandemic, the Marshall YMCA had also been planning for future facilities needs. Bolin said the vision for the Y includes renovating some of the building’s existing multipurpose and fitness spaces to better meet current needs for youth programs and wellness training. The planning and capital campaign process for this project was slowed down by COVID-19, but Bolin said the YMCA will be going more public with the campaign in the future.
“We’re excited about the future,” Bolin said. Working to grow membership numbers will be another part of getting things back to normal at the Y, he said.
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