‘A sad day in Moose Jaw’: YMCA set to close its doors at the end of June

It’s a period of grief, sadness and anger, as Moose Jaw prepares to say goodbye to the YMCA after 114 years of service.

On Tuesday, the board voted to shut down the YMCA locations on Fairford Street and Athabasca Street as of June 30.

The closures will leave 31 employees without a job and hundreds of members without a gym, including 20-year member Jerry Nicholson.

Diana Deakin-Thomas, Moose Jaw YMCA’s interim CEO, says the organization has struggled financially for a number of years. She points to decreasing memberships, a rise in competition and costly building repairs as reasons behind the decision.

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“We have old facilities that require more capital than we have to throw at it and it’s far more than we can do in a short amount of time,” Deakin-Thomas said. “We need to dissolve prior to insolvency and the reason we need to do that is so we can transfer programs and services that will continue to operate here in Moose Jaw.”

The YMCA of Regina will take over Moose Jaw’s childcare services, with no changes to families, as of July 2.

The YMCA is the largest childcare provider in the city, according to Deakin-Thomas. She says 250 licensed childcare spaces take up the five YMCA daycares. Forty-four staff will stay on at the childcare and early learning centres.

There is still hope for the Y’s other programs. Deakin-Thomas says she is looking to secure funding to continue services like the mentorship, asset-building and before-and-after-school programs. She can’t confirm which programs will survive the cuts, but she says all of them have been funded in the past.