As chair of the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka, I am pleased to share that we remain committed to building a new Y in Downtown Barrie.

Now more than ever, our community needs the Y.

We believe in strengthening working families and our new Y will be the only licensed child care centre in Barrie’s growing downtown core.

We believe that coming out of the pandemic there will be an even greater need for charities and not for profits to work together, and our new Y will create a space to bring together partners from the social service sector, arts & culture, and health & wellness.

We believe a strong and vibrant downtown will be critical to Barrie’s economic recovery from Covid-19, and our new Y will be a catalyst in the redevelopment of Bradford Street corridor.

We believe in inspiring youth to reach their full potential, and the new Y will be home to a centralized Youth Centre and Transitional Housing for Youth.

We believe in ending “hallway medicine”, and the Y’s onsite rehabilitation programs in partnership with RVH will do just that.

The Y’s staff will continue to work with HIP Developments, city staff, all levels of government and our community to make this vision for a new downtown Y a reality.

Now more than ever, we need your help.

To learn more about this important community project or to make a charitable donation of your own, go to www.100reasonsY.ca.

There are 100 reasons to support the Y.

What’s yours?

Andrew Lorriman, Board Chair YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka