Marco YMCA Golden Gala Raises $100,000 Announces New Senior Center

Saturday night’s Golden Gala couldn’t have gone much better for YMCA President/CEO Cindy Love-Abounader, who took advantage of the occasion to announce the new $8 million Senior Center that will be coming to the Marco campus starting this year.

“With the sponsors and the silent auction items and the 50-50 cash call, we’re estimating just a little over $100,000,” Love-Abounader said. “I loved the energy in the room. Bringing everybody together for community service was just such a good time. That relationship network building and just having fun with each other is really what these events are about. Yeah, we need to raise money, but it's about bringing everybody together.”

Keynote speaker Dr. Thomas Felke of FGCU touched on many of the issues that will be served by the Y’s new Senior Center.

"It's an expansion of the Y,” Love-Abounader said of the upcoming Senior Center. “We're dedicating space for a senior center. We were just kind of soft selling it at the gala, just kind of laying it out there a little bit.”

While Love-Abounader may have attempted a soft sell Saturday night, the news of the Senior Center is a huge deal for the Marco Y.

"I think the building is the biggest we can go,” Love-Abounader said. "The expansion is 17,000 square feet. It's going to be a two-story facility with a dedicated senior activity space with a warming kitchen and things like that. So, we'll be able to have luncheons and seminars and speakers.”

Love-Abounader said a lot of people lose track of the fact that the YMCA is a not-for-profit.

"I think the biggest thing people don't understand is that the Y is a not-for-profit,” said Love-Abounader. “We just assume everybody knows that. If we do generate revenues, it goes right back into the facility or other programs.”

The Y will break ground on the Senior Center this year.

"I did get a grant from the state of $1.475 million,” Love-Abounader said. "That's what kicked us off. We've got about another 3.5 million out there that we asked for, so we'll see. Because the $1.475 million came through the state, we need to spend that this year. So, we're getting our plans and everything completed. Then we'll probably start phases like the parking or whatever we can do with the first $1.475 million. Then, if some of this other funding comes in, we'll just keep going with it.”

The total price tag for the Senior Center is $8 million.

“It's going to matter whether the community feels that it is viable and wraps their arms around this thing and helps raise some money,” said Love-Abounader. Because it's going to be about $8 million. It's going to take the community to actually make it happen.”

Love-Abounader, who’s been with the Marco Y for 30 years, certainly has a track record for getting things done. A recent example is the pickleball facility.

“Our facility is bursting at the seams,” Love-Abounader said. “We have people lined up in the lobby. You know pickleball is going crazy. Of course, we still have a strong tennis community. We did that pickleball center during Covid. And it really paid off. That's the difference between not-for-profits and government and big corporations, we can pivot pretty quickly if the community wants us to."