The Kennett YMCA is gearing up
for a multi-million dollar expansion project that, according to Executive
Director Jeff Daly, is sorely needed. But first it must raise the money.

Kicking off a fund-raising
campaign will be an expansion awareness party on Sunday, Feb. 12, from 3 to 5
p.m. One of the guests will be former Philadelphia Eagle, and cancer survivor,
Kevin Reilly.

Daly said the Kennett Y is
currently tending to more than twice as many people as it was designed for.

“The building itself was built
in the late 1990s with a capacity to hold about 6,000 people. In just a short
period of time the community embraced the Y and we kind of outgrew the capacity
of our building. Right now we have about 12,000 people at the Kennett Y that
consider it home,” Daly said. “For the last several years there have been a lot
of constraints on space.”

He said the Y has been looking
for ways to solve that space constraint problem that will enhance what the Y
offers and enhance the Y experience for its members.

Daily said the plans call for a
second swimming pool, an expanded gymnasium and a larger fitness center, among
other areas.

The Y is currently home to both
the Kennett High and Unionville High School swimming teams as well as having a
swim team of its own. This places pool space at a premium.

“There’s a lot of folks who are
coming in for swimming and there’s not a lot of time for other folks to be
swimming. We don’t have a true warm water temperature pool so we’re not truly
able to offer warm water classes that might benefit seniors or young children,”
Daly said.

Expansion plans include, he
said, a second pool, three lanes wide for family recreation and those warm
water classes. This will allow more space at the full sized pool to be used for
lap swimmers.

Daly also said the Y has done a
yeoman’s job in juggling space in other areas.

“What this Y does in regards to
managing space is amazing. There’s some magic happening here [regarding]
scheduling. There are so many different needs and just a small amount of space.
In our gymnasium right now you can have a zumba class going on with 30 to 40
people in half a gymnasium and on the other side of the gym are 25
seventh-graders wanting to shoot hoops,” said Daly. “How those two populations
have existed without conflict is a mystery to me.”

Also planned are expansions of
the fitness and cardio rooms and a new family recreation center that will be
half the size of the gymnasium. Some of the expansion will be at the expense of
about 10 parking spaces on the north side of the building, the side nearest
East State Street.

“Our goal is $3.4 million to do
the expansion for this building. We’ve been in the silent phase for the last
few months talking with people and gaining momentum, but now we’re at the point
where we’re launching this out in the community... This is what our Y and
community need to expand. The time is now... It’s a big task to raise funds in
this economy and this climate. We‘ve got a great bunch of volunteers and staff
and community people who are working together to make this happen.”

He said the
Y needs a lot of help to make the expansion happen.

So far,
there’s no date on when work will begin.

“We have to
raise the funds [before] we get to that point.”

Daily said
the kickoff party is a great way for people to learn all that the Kennett YMCA
does and what it means to the community.

“It’s a call
to action that says, ‘This is what we want to do and we’re taking steps but we
need your help.’”