MISSOULA — The Missoula Family YMCA expansion project received a major boost on Monday, February 12, 2024, when Charter Communications granted them $20,000.
The grant is part of the YMCA's $19 million project which construction started last year. The new money will provide supplies such as computers and podcasting materials for the YMCA's new STEAM and technology room.
YMCA Chief Operating Officer Keri McHugh says a room was added to the expansion after the community expressed want and need for the resource.
“So typically at YMCA we want kids off the screen so this is a little bit of a different direction, so what we’re seeing is we want to be able to provide a safe environment. Where it is a controlled atmosphere and it creates kids being on the screen but they’re learning a skill, such as coding, and they’re also with a group, so a social aspect,” McHugh said. “They’re not home isolated on the screen, and maybe doing things they shouldn’t, they’re actually learning tools that they could use in school and maybe one day in a career.”
McHugh went on to mention the YMCA has raised $16 million out of its $19 million goal for the expansion, and every dollar raised will go back to the community to make the YMCA a place for everyone. The expansion project is expected to be finished by 2025.
