YMCA of Northwest Louisiana CEO, Gary Lash, sent the following communication today to all of its members:
To our members,
Thank you all for the support, patience and understanding as we continue to address the ever- changing landscape of the COVID-19 virus. Like everyone, we are hoping that in the not too distant future we can begin resuming our normal lives and regular operations.
We are writing to let you know that we are suspending all YMCA bank drafts associated with your membership fees until we are able to reopen our facilities.
During this difficult time, we are committed to supporting our staff. We will be maintaining current employee compensation and benefits for our more than 300 employees.
We will also continue striving to fill certain needs in the community. Since the beginning of last week, we have begun sharing daily exercise videos for kids and adults on our Facebook page, YMCA of Northwest Louisiana. Because we know how important exercise is for boosting our immune systems, we are making these classes available to members and non-members at no cost to the community. We will continue to provide resources, ideas and educational components to you throughout each week.
A number of you have asked how you can help us. We realize this period will impact every family differently. We look forward to reopening as soon as possible; however, until that time we will be incurring significant costs associated with our payroll as well as our normal daily maintenance of the facilities, equipment and pools. We are asking anyone with the means and desire to please donate the equivalent of your monthly YMCA membership fees to the YMCA’s Annual Campaign. All donations are fully tax deductible. This can be done online at the following link:
Donations will directly assist us with maintaining compensation for our employees and enabling us to offer a seamless continuation of services to our members as soon as we are able to reopen.
We will continue to monitor the situation daily and keep you proactively informed of any significant updates to our operational plans. If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Gary Lash Chief Executive Officer YMCA of Northwest Louisiana
