SPRUCE PINE — While a permanent location for a local YMCA still remains in question, the Williams YMCA of Avery County has implemented the first stages of expansion into Mitchell County through evidence-based health intervention programming.
Katie Willett, the Williams YMCA Mitchell County Community Liason, said funding of the YMCA expansion project slowed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“Local funders shifted to needing to support the community, which is totally understandable,” she said.
Willett added that while the search for a suitable location for a YMCA in Mitchell County and securing funding remain long-term goals, the local health intervention programming is a good first step toward establishing a foothold of YMCA programming in the area.
The Williams YMCA this past March opened its new Healthy Living Center on Upper Street in downtown Spruce Pine. The building is located at 275 Oak Avenue, between the Toe River Arts building and Southwest Trading Company.
The Healthy Living Center serves as the operating center for Mitchell County YMCA growth and development. Willett said the center will soon look to reinitiate programs including blood pressure self-monitoring and programs on delaying disease for Parkinson’s.
Willett said that many programs are now offered virtually due to COVID-19. Others, she said, could soon be offered outdoors on a smaller scale.
“That’s the unique thing,” she said. “We don’t need a greater building site to initiate some of these programs and really be able to promote the community and healthy living.”
Willett said she and the staff of the Williams YMCA are still actively working to identify the biggest needs in Mitchell County. Determining what people want most from a local YMCA is a priority, she added.
“That’s part of my goals right now is listening to the community,” Willett said. “If there is good stuff going on, we want to allow that to happen. We want to be a bridge.”
Willett said the local programming is valuable as it allows the Mitchell County extension of the YMCA to develop its own identity. What Avery County needs from a YMCA and what Mitchell County needs are different, she said.
“As we grow here, it doesn’t just end up being an extension of the Williams YMCA,” Willett said. “We get to learn from their history— what has been helpful and what has not? We’re not trying to reinvent or do the same things Avery is. We’re not looking to double dip.”