Everyone has been taking full advantage of the YMCA's pool
By Jana Soeldner Danger
South Florida Sun-Times
   HOLLYWOOD – Just about anyone driving down Taft Street at 31st Avenue in Hollywood can’t help noticing a large new pool, complete with water jets, surrounded by colorful sun umbrellas. The 25-yard, six-lane lap pool with a family lagoon opened with a flourish at the YMCA earlier this summer, and ever since has been busy with both kids and adults enjoying the water and the sunshine.
   The idea for building the pool began four years ago with a number of goals: to reduce the number of drowning deaths in the community by making swimming lessons more readily available to kids, and also to increase membership at the Y and provide more and better services.
   An initial grant of $850,000 from Swim Central, an agency that coordinates swim programs throughout Broward County, put the pool within reach. But planners decided that the pool wasn’t enough – the entire YMCA facility should be upgraded. Thus began a $3.5 million capital improvement campaign that resulted in a new 6,000-square-foot wellness center, upgraded interior studios and other spaces, and moving the parking lot from the south to the north side of the building.
   “The pool was the beginning of a long-range plan for finding ways that the YMCA of Broward can better serve the community,” says Dick Blattner, a Hollywood commissioner who chaired the fundraising efforts. “Membership had been flat, and we felt we weren’t serving as many people as we could be.”
   Planners decided to put the pool on the Taft Street side of the building where it would be more visible. “We thought it would attract people driving by,” Blattner says. “Our goal is to be in the drowning prevention business, but we also wanted the pool to be a place where families could gather and participate in activities.”
   To promote drowning prevention and water safety awareness, the Y formed an alliance with the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Center, for which the new pool is named. Aquatic programs are offered for kids as young as a year old. Programs for adults include water polo, synchronized swimming, and master swim club.
   "We have been using this new pool all summer," said Candace Miller of Emerald Hills. "My two boys just love it, and it is quite relaxing for me as well. It's one of the best things that has happened in our neighborhood."
    The wellness center, which opened last summer, has also been a hit. It offers state-of-the-art equipment for getting and staying fit. “So many people today are concerned about health and wellness,” says Sheryl Woods, president and CEO of the YMCA of Broward. “We’ve got people of all ages working out there.
   The improvements have been well-received by the community, Woods notes. “It’s exciting, because we’re serving 1,000 new families,” she adds. ”We’re very blessed that we’ve had a lot of people step up and help us.”
   Scholarships for various programs are available. “No one is turned away because of inability to pay,” Woods says. “I believe the need for our services will continue to grow. Our overall goal is to make people feel as if the YMCA is their home away from home.”