Healthy living highlights Butler County Family YMCA annual meeting
FRANKLIN TWP — Leaders of the Butler County Family YMCA highlighted their commitment to healthy living during the organization’s 139th annual meeting on Tuesday, May 13, at The Atrium in Franklin Township.
Over the past year, the organization has worked to expand several class offerings.
Across its three branches — the Butler YMCA, Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA and ARMCO Park — the organization recorded 537,222 unique visits by 19,250 people.
Weekly group exercise classes totaled 219, while weekly small group training classes saw 340 participants in 28 classes.
“For us, it’s spirit, mind and body,” David Hilliard, organization president and CEO, said. “Healthy living encompasses all three of those. That’s how we view it. If you’re healthy in all three of those, then it works.”
Thanks to 700 donors, the 2024 Annual Support Campaign raised $409,000 and supported 1,047 scholarship recipients.
A team of 78 volunteers contributed 1,888 hours of essential service, generating an estimated value of $45,306.
The organization also reported a net revenue of $73,035 for 2024, up from the $17,307 it collected in 2023.
“I think 2024 was a very good year and I think 2025 is shaping up to be even better,” Tony Shakely, chief volunteer officer, said. “When you have this many staff that care and take ownership of the success of the Y, you’re bound to have good things happen.”
Hilliard and other executives praised dozens of staff members who were in attendance for their work in leading the organization to what they described as another productive year.
That included Butler YMCA membership and healthy living director Heidi Nicholls Bowser, who says the YMCA is far more than an ordinary gym.
“The YMCA brand is international, but in Butler, I would say it’s one of the pillars of the community,” she said. “It is one of the major hubs for healthy living. Body is a big part, but you can’t address the body without the spirit and the mind.”
Looking ahead, the organization plans to expand offerings at ARMCO Park in Slippery Rock, with the goal of transforming it into an all-inclusive destination for residents across Western Pennsylvania.
“We want to turn that into a place where people can go and have good experiences, whether that’s camping or being around the fire pits or on the swings,” he said. “We hope to have some cottages up there for people to stay at. Their family can hopefully stay for the weekend and enjoy the park. That’s our big focus is to make that happen over the next couple of years.”
