YMCA board: W.S. deserves new building

The Ozarks Family YMCA has been serving the Willow Springs community for 25 years. On Thursday night, the board of the Willow Springs branch invited about 50 community members to be the first to hear about their vision for a new, $5 million state-of-the-art facility that they say the Willow Springs community deserves. 

 

“A new YMCA building would be an important improvement to our community. It would allow us to provide much-needed services for our area, such as safe child care, food programs, etc…while allowing our children and adults to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle,” said Board President Derek Fredrick. 

 

The current building on Main St. is too small, invitees heard Thursday night. Today’s YMCA building is a converted gas station – too small to provide “much-needed childcare,” and forcing YMCA programs to share gymnasium space with Willow Springs Schools.

 

The intended site of the new facility will be a piece of land owned by the school district at the end of Sassafras at Tenth St, Fredrick said. 

 

The $5 million price tag is a tall order for one of the poorest counties in the state, but State Senator Brad Hudson said, “It can be done.” 

 

Both Hudson and District 154 Representative Lisa Durnell were at Thursday’s meeting and pledged to do what they can to help. The key, Hudson stressed, is local buy-in. The Willow Springs community must have “skin in the game,” raising twenty percent of that $5 million is, “something I would go to bat for,” on the state appropriations committee, Hudson said. 

 

YMCA programs serve dozens of Willow Springs children, Fredrick said. The youth soccer program has 80 to 100 participants. According to information presented at the meeting, members are up 60% since 2020, and youth program participation is up 35%. 

 

“This isn’t about ‘the YMCA’,” Fredrick said. "It’s about our community…we, the board have done a lot of work, a lot of research, but there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s something we deserve.”

 

For more information or to donate, call Derek Fredrick at 417-259-1044.