OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is a letter to the editor and an open letter to the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka board of directors.
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We the undersigned are all residents of the City of Orillia, or the municipalities of Ramara, Severn and Oro-Medonte. We could have signed up many more former donors but we think the point is made.
We have reviewed the programs offered at the various YMCA locations that are in operation. We think that it is fair to say that very robust programs are offered year-round at the YMCA facilities in Collingwood, Gravenhurst, Innisfil, Midland, and Wasaga Beach.
In stark contrast the only program offered in Orillia is a day camp this summer.
The $2.9 million that was received from the sale of the Orillia YMCA location in the financial year ended June 30, 2021, has been directed into the general revenues of the Simcoe-Muskoka YMCA, which continues to offer generous programming to further the ‘health and welfare’ of the communities named. However, the people of Orillia and surrounding municipalities, Ramara, Severn and Oro-Medonte are receiving a meagre summer camp program.
We understand that at one point Simcoe-Muskoka offered to run programs at the Orillia Recreation Centre but the terms were not deemed reasonable.
It will not go unnoticed that nine of the 14 members of your board of directors reside in the Barrie/Innisfil area.
We suggest to you that this just isn’t fair and equitable. We encourage you to correct the situation by donating the proceeds from the sale of the Orillia YMCA property to the City of Orillia to reduce the capital cost of Orillia’s Recreation Centre.
Alternatively, an endowment fund of $2.9 million could be set up with the interest from that fund being used to pay for YMCA ‘health and welfare’-type programs at the Orillia Recreation Centre for citizens of Orillia, Ramara, Severn and Oro-Medonte. Either way all citizens of Simcoe-Muskoka would be treated equally.
It might also be possible to rebuild the donor wall at the old Orillia YMCA premises in a prominent position at the Orillia Recreation Centre, which would highlight the considerable contribution that they and past members of the YMCA have made for over 125 years to the Orillia and the area.
The actions of the Simcoe-Muskoka YMCA board of directors have poisoned the well of goodwill that the YMCA built up in Orillia and the area for over the course of 125 years or more of being a driving force in the community. This would give the YMCA a chance to redeem its reputation.
We would be pleased to meet with a representative group of your board in the near future to discuss these opportunities.
Please contact Doug Lewis at [email protected] to discuss how that meeting might take place.
The undersigned endorse the suggestions put forward in this letter.
Doug Lewis, former Orillia YMCA member
Michael Bunn, former chair, Orillia YMCA, YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka
Jim Dykes, former fundraiser and major donor
Jim Watt, board member, Y’s Men’s Club, and major donor
Mike Davenport, former fundraiser and major donor
John Mundell, former fundraiser and major donor
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