Growing With The TimesBy David WilsonTTIhe YMCA is a good

I place to get startedI living a healthier

lifestyle, and the new edi-tion of the James A. HenryBranch at the EastgateTown Center has reallytaken off on solid ground,said executive directorShe'rri McCle1lan.

The branch was named in1953 forJames A. Henry whowas the first African-American principal of aschool in Chattanooga in1894.

There is a lot of history atthe J. A. Henry YMCA, andone day soon She'rri willhave a waII of distinguishedpeople at the new location.She would like to have a fam-ily reunion for everyone whohas ever been a member ofthe branch, and she wouldlike for them to take part inthe festivities when theyhave their reunion. Manypeople learned how to swimthere and some playedcheckers there. These arethe older members that go

back to the beginning andshe feels they would enjoythe reunion, She'rri said.

The real reason for themove from Park Avenue wasto increase the rnembershipbecause it had become stag-nated or, even better put, nonexistent, and it was time tocome on line with the newgeneration of fitness, childcare, preschool and healthawareness that is now preva-lent in our society, she said.She had a goal to increase the member-ship and get more money from the pro-grarns that she offered and it has workedfar beyond her projections, because whenthey were located on Park Avenue theydidn't have any members, iust peopleusing the facility, and now they havealmost 600 members since March, shesaid.

She'rri has been with the J. A. HenryYMCA for one year. She started at ParkAvenue and when it was time to move sheworked with the architects and took paftin the planning and designing of the

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Photos bY Charles PaYne

Mrs. She'rri McClellan knows her business which is working withpeople and she has a knack for getting the best out of them.She'ri keeps a smile on her face because she loves her work .

building and ordering the carpet, paintand furniture. It was definitely a grass-

roots project that she is very proud of, shesaid.

It's really going great and she couldn'thave found a better place to relocate thecenter, she said. They have been able totriple their day care and are able to holdB0 children in their preschool, eventhough they don't have that many yet, butit is more than what they had at ParkAvenue. They have eight classrooms fortheir licensed preschool and a fenced-inplayground is under construction that will

have trees for shade and acommunity room for differentorganizations to hold meet-ings and receptions.

The YMCA offers a mem-bership nursery for parentswith children who are six andunder and a teen center thathas computers, board gamesand table tennis to eneouragepeople with ehildren to comeand enjoy the facility and notworry about the kids. Thisused to be a deterrent for theYMCA in gaining membersand for members who wereparents because they had noone to watch their childrenfor them while they workedout, she said.

They have a spacious facil-ity that has a men's andwomen's locker room and aglrmnasium with six basket-ball goals that is lined for vol-leyball. It has a sauna andsteam room and a cardiovas-cular machine on the premis-es. As you can see, they arewell equipped, as they shouldbe because they are underthe umbrella of theChattanooga MetropolitanYMCA. The Henry YMCAthough, is unique and has itsown personality in that it'snot so big you have to wait orso small that there is no room.The teen center offers thingsthrough networking to helpthe teens get involved withother students in the organi-zation, Mrs. McClellan said.

She'rri was determined notto bring any of the o1d furni-ture with her from ParkAvenue, because they wanted

to create a new image and encapsulate allthe positive things that were at the oldfacility but start a new era at their newfacility. A lot of help came from suppo6ers who were partners with them in thisventure and it has paid off.

The board of directors looked at a capi-tal venture to see how we could conseruemoney and yet get the most out of the dol-lars that we received through an endow-ment and a capital fund-raising campaign,she said. That helped us make the move to

Please see Growing page 19

Growing from page 16

the, eipanded complexi'in,,. antall, she $aid.,',,i,',,

"The next big step is toget 600-plus members, adda swimming pool to thefacility and then knock outthe walls for more roomand expand so that we canserve the communitymore," she said. "'We wantto give everyone rnore todo, especially the teens tokeep them out of trouble.

"When we moved, every-bod$ thoug,ht we **i*l;urning our,,bae m on thecommunity but just thecontrary. Because we canserve all , the c,ommunityand we're larger and canoffer more serviees atEastgate MalI than at ParkAvenue ... We're here forbhe business and we areLrere for the community asvell-it helps our preschoollnd it helps our member-rhip also to be where werre.,Eastgate is ,a fine loca-

tion because we are on oneof the' main tfansportationroutes for CARTA. ft's bet-ter foi our member.s, :and

everyone, who needs trans'portation and we providetransportation for mem-bers through our van ser-viCe,'at, 'the J. A. Henry,YMCA," she said.

"People come here towork out at 5:30 a-m. whenw€, open up', ,for business.People come in and workout, ,then ShoWer, d walkto work. It's a pleasantatmosphere for everyorle.We won't be like theHamilton Place YMCA, butwe're not trying to be likethem. We provide for ourmembers everything theywant and need and peoplehave thanked ,us fof ,th'4t,"She'rri said. ,', i .,

The fucility has,attfactedthe very folk who wouldhave used the, facil,ity,'l,BtPark Avenue but never

j,oi,ned" Therer ar,e scholar-ships awarded to studentswho are in the preschoolprogram and this sort ofoffsets the costs of thepreschool for them, shesaid. Some of thepreschoolers were broughtto the facility as membersbecause they were alreadymembers.

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She'rri' , said that in ffienext five years you will seethe J. A. Henry YMCAexpanding and offeringmore programs and ser-vices for youth and adults,because they have themeans to be the heart ofthe community. They canasSistr ,,t-hr.bugh ,,the physi_cians, w o have put threirpatients on various pro-grams for healthierlifestyles ,, ,hecause the,yhave ,the, trai'ned person-nel to do that.

"We don't want to iustgive the members the

mae,hines and, equipment,but to manage themthrough the programs in aChristian atmosphere andthe community family can

tgrow healthier in spirit,mind Bhd, body;"'she said,

She'rri's experienc ecomes from the li years ofdevelopment and manage-rnent 'f- 'ning sheacguired, Wofking as amanag:r at AT&T and. as asupervisor: o*er'threeoffices with the HamiltonCounty government devel-oping a facility andstaffing it, which is prettymuch like what she isdo.ing rat the YIWCA indevelopment and manage-ment, she said.

Working with childrenand families is what shedoes and the YMCA is aperfect place for here, shesaid.