Dear editor,

I would like to thank the citizens of Selma for all the support that the Selma and Dallas County, Walker-Johnson YMCA has received over these many years.

I am speaking to you as a board member with sincere gratitude and love for this community and the Y. We served over 8,000 people this past year and many of that number were children. We have given over $14,000 in scholarships to underserved children this past year. We had the best summer camp ever with children from all across the county. We sponsor swim lessons, yoga, pilates, cycling, Zumba, youth basketball, elementary gymnastics, water aerobics, CPR classes, Why Not for Adults Diabetes prevention and much, much more.

We are one of only a few places where people from all walks of life meet for healthy recreation. We are in the process of planning an after-school program, and we are looking at ways in which we can expand services to underserved children.

However, we have struggled with our debt. We are a 40,000-square-foot building that cost $6 million initially. When we built our facility in 2005-2006, the economy was in an economic upturn. The recession hit our community in 2007-2008, and many well-intentioned pledges were not realized.

We, however, were relentless in our commitment to serve and survive. And we did.

In order to continue to serve, we as board members presented a lodging fee plan to the mayor and the city council for consideration three years ago.

Other cities with a vision to have a “healthy community” had such a fee. This was not a city tax on its citizens but a fee paid by overnight guests at local hotels.

We will go before the city council this coming Tuesday, and we sincerely pray, want and need to have the lodging fee renewed. Our survival is put in jeopardy without the lodging fee.

And lastly, the YMCA is like a hospital or library to a community and is an indicator of the health of that community. We want to have a healthy, vibrant community and YMCA.

Juanda Maxwell

YMCA board member