Tiffin Community YMCA seeks to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities.
Saturday, Chief Executive Officer Steven Crone noticed the roles were reversed.
More than 140 people, including members and non-members, volunteered their time to help YMCA recover from a flood that left several inches of water in the building.
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Community members come together to help clean Tiffin YMCA
They wanted to give back and help, Crone said.
A crew worked to tear up the wood floor in the newer gymnasium, and water remained after the wood was removed. The wood is to be recycled with a pallet company.
Chad Cole, a YMCA member, helped tear up the floor he had played basketball on previously. He said the volunteer day was fun, and he enjoys working.
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PHOTO BY JILL GOSCHE
Maureen Wise (left), wife of a Tiffin Community YMCA employee, and Jane Stine, an employee, do laundry Saturday afternoon.
"This doesn't bother me a bit," he said.
Crone said he did not know a damage estimate for the facility, although he said it would be several hundred thousand dollars. He said he should see bids for replacement of the gym and wellness center floors Monday. He predicted work would start on the floors in a week or two.
Some of Saturday's work focused on the field house, the new home for the fitness equipment.
"Everything is just shining in there," Crone said.
Crone said the volunteer effort included cleaning gymnastics equipment and curtain dividers in the field house, and testing fitness equipment to ensure it works properly.
Crone said $18,000 in gymnastics mats were destroyed. Mats, he said, act like sponges when they get wet.
"Those mats have already been ordered," he said.
Crone said a full cleaning crew would be at YMCA today. A men's basketball league and a Bible study that meet Sunday evenings are to restart today.
The front desk is to be open 5 a.m.-10:30 p.m., which are normal hours, starting Monday. Fitness equipment now is in the field house, and patrons are to be able to use it Monday.
"We will have Mother Goose Preschool here on Monday," Crone said.
Some classes are to be at YMCA, while some are to remain at St. Paul's United Methodist Church.
"We do want to bring as much back here as possible," Crone said.
Maureen Wise, wife of a YMCA employee, and Jane Stine, a front-desk worker, did laundry in preparation for Monday's reopening.
Stine was manning the front desk when water threatened the facility Feb. 28 and made an announcement for patrons to evacuate. She said employees are going to start back to work Monday.
"I open at 5. ... I've been off two weeks. That's long enough," she said.
Molly Lofton, senior program manager at YMCA, said the staff could have been depressed, but the attitude was positive when she attended a staff meeting four days after the flooding. Employees' approach was one of deciding how YMCA could come back bigger and better, she said.
"All right, let's get going," she said was the staff's attitude.
Crone said he hopes to open the pool in the middle of May.
The pool has been cleared of muddy water, and he said officials still are evaluating what type of tile replacement it needs, including whether the tile must be completely replaced or patched. A crew will paint the pool walls and floors, and the filter system needs to be replaced, he said.
Lofton said she worries about senior citizens who use the pool for water therapy and patrons who use the pool for water fitness classes and swim lessons. She said she was supposed to start a swim class in April.
"(It's) hard without a pool," she said.
YMCAs in Findlay, Fostoria and Fremont have allowed Tiffin members to use their facilities, Lofton said.
She said the pool damage is sad, yet YMCA is going to have a new pool and a new opportunity. The deck, equipment and filters will be new, she said.
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