Groundbreaking date set for new Easley YMCA

EASLEY — A date has been set for the groundbreaking of the new Easley YMCA campus, the latest step in the nearly $3 million capital campaign which started last May.

“I am unbelievably excited to announce that we will be hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Easley YMCA on Friday, April 29 at 4:30 p.m.,” said Sid Collins, president and CEO of YMCA Easley, Pickens & Powdersville.

Last year, officials called the Easley campus a “centerpiece of the Easley community, putting Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.” The building has remained at its current location for more than 60 years, they said.

The new Easley YMCA campus is named in honor of longtime supporters of the YMCA, the McKissick family. When the Easley YMCA opened more than 60 years ago, E. Smyth McKissick, III., held his parents’ hands as they were presented with the branch’s first membership.

The new structure will replace a 22,000-square-foot building that was originally built and opened in 1960 and renovated over the years. The Easley YMCA is one of three branches that make up the YMCA of Easley, Pickens & Powdersville Association.

“God is doing amazing things in our Easley community! The mission of the Y is still alive, thriving and stands as a beacon of hope for thousands of people in this community,” Collins said at the original announcement last May. “The YMCA movement has been around for nearly 177 years, and we know our Christian mission changes lives in a positive way. We want to celebrate the blessings we have and what we are going to be able to do with those blessings in the near future!”

According to officials, the new Easley YMCA at the McKissick Campus will include a 55,500-square-foot YMCA with state-of-the-art cardio and strength centers, dedicated group exercise and spin rooms, and a Functional Training Room with indoor and outdoor workout spaces. The full-court basketball gymnasium will also have an elevated walking track that features an enclosed indoor slide down to the Y’s lobby. A Nursery and a Childwatch room will allow parents to exercise while Y staff care for their children, and a Teen Room will be a safe and fun place for our community’s youth to hang out.

The campus will include an aquatic complex with a lap pool, zero-entry play pool with water features and large water slides. Two athletic fields, multiple playgrounds around the campus and a half-mile walking track around the site will complete the Easley YMCA at the McKissick Campus.

The existing YMCA will be renovated in a second phase to be a large Child Development Center of Excellence (CDC) and an adjoining Senior Center. The vision is for the children in the CDC and the seniors from the Senior Center to interact by eating lunch together, enjoying activity times and with seniors and children reading to each other. The cognitive benefit will be significant for both the children and seniors, they said.

The Senior Center will be operated in partnership with Pickens County Meals on Wheels. The Easley community does not currently have a Senior Center that serves as a hub for our area’s active older adults to gather together and stay healthy and independent, they said.

Additionally, the Y’s Child Development Center will offer a unique opportunity that blends YMCA childcare programming in a Christ-centered environment with the importance of early-childhood education.

According to plans, the building of the new Easley YMCA campus is a $17.5 million project that is made possible by a public/private partnership of funding through the United States Department of Agriculture, Truist Bank and the generous philanthropic support of the Easley community.