The new Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA , at Route 19 and Ehrman Road, opens Saturday. It will serve members who live in Evans City, Harmony, Zelienople, Seven Fields and Mars, as well as Cranberry and Jackson townships.

With a strong commitment to youth and families in the southwest Butler County region, the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA opens Saturday.

"On behalf of the Butler County Family YMCA, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve the communities here in Southwest Butler County," said Dave Hilliard, executive director of the YMCA. "This area of the county is energetic and family centered, and the Butler County Family YMCA is happy to provide services that meet the needs of this progressive community."

The nearly 80,000-square-foot facility was designed by architects Ross Schonder Sterzinger and Cupcheck. It includes an indoor aquatic center, chapel, gymnasium, climbing wall, fitness center, group exercise and spinning studios, large indoor track, youth and family recreation center, child watch/play place and a community meeting room.

Butler Memorial Hospital will offer on-site medical services, including an image center, outpatient laboratory and physician's offices.This building will replace the current Southwest Butler County YMCA, which has 5,000 square feet of leased space on Route 19 in Jackson Township. That will close Nov. 4.With the leadership from volunteers Bill Henderson, Jay Williams, Don Hillier and Mark Marion, the YMCA in Jackson Township opened in 1993.The new facility is at Route 19 and Ehrman Road, and is named in honor of the late Rose Schneider, a popular and well-respected community leader. It will serve members who live in Evans City, Harmony, Zelienople, Seven Fields and Mars, as well as Cranberry and Jackson townships.Southwest Butler County YMCA operates under the Butler County Family YMCA, which has been serving the county since 1886. It has services that help strengthen members in spirit, mind and body and teach the YMCA core values of honesty, respect and responsibility.The Southwest Butler County YMCA attracted 250 members in its first year. Over the years, the membership has grown to 1,000.For information about the facility or memberships, call 724-452-9122 or visit the Web site at www.bcfymca.org.

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Dave Hilliard, right, excutive director of the new Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA, shows off the facility during its recent open house. The nearly 80,000-square-foot facility opens Saturday.

Melissa Brandt, right, youth and family director, talks with Susan Westfall of Cranberry Township in the Play Place Child Care area of the family YMCA during a recent tour.