To the Editor:

This letter is a week overdue.

Thank you and sincere appreciation to all the people in Selma and Dallas County who so generously donated

money and efforts in fundraising and praying for the new YMCA building located at the end of YMCA Drive off Medical Center Parkway!

It is truly a wonderful place and will grow more wonderful and wonder-filled as the people it was built for, individuals and families, join in taking advantage of the marvelous opportunities presented there.

I have been a member of the YMCA since 1985, in Middle Tennessee and here in Selma. I learned to swim at the Paul Grist Y too many years ago to think about!

The camaraderie found in the pool and exercise room there has traveled across town and may be found in the new Y.

There are many new faces, many professional faces ready to set the pace for growth and development in many areas of recreation and activities leading to a healthier person in all ways:

physically, mentally, and spiritually.

You know the mission

of the YMCA is “To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.”

Though my husband and I are charter members of this new Y, we purposely did not take the tours offered during the weeks of the latter construction period.

We were most awed and pleasantly surprised when we visited the YMCA for the first time to swim last Saturday.

I was speechless on the inside, yet bubbling over with words and smiles to all the familiar faces and new faces seen in the employees there.

The facility is just beautiful and functional for so many different activities.

The many signs around the building show the great generosity of so many Selma- Dallas County families, individuals, and businesses.

Of course, I visited in the chapel dedicated to Paul Grist and wept when I saw the stained glass window placed in memory of Randy Prince, a former worker at Cooper Brothers Construction and the deceased husband of a friend of mine.

The window appears to be a frame in a kaleidoscope and as I stare at it I wait for it to change as if my hand was turning the end of the toy.

But, no, the lovely window design is stable – as stable and unchanging and beautiful as the Christian God the YMCA represents and as stable and unchanging and beautiful as the spirit of community which came together to bring us this new YMCA.

Congratulations Angie Miller for seeing the fruit of all your hard work and faithfulness to the mission! It is really a great place! Thank you to the board of the YMCA for pulling together to make this happen.

And thanks again to all the businesses, families and individuals who donated to make a place where the kids, families

and communities can meet and grow strong! Makes me want to spend more time there!

Makes me smile!

Gail Box Ingram

Valley Grande