(Spirit Lake)– While the past summer was a challenging one for most, it turned out to be a relatively good one for the YMCA of the Okoboji’s. CEO Andrew Fisher…
“We actually got busier within our facilities, we saw higher traffic this summer than we have at other times just as people, maybe some of their other recreational activities were taken away so they were seeking out other things. Also during the flooding tragedy in Clay county, we became a place where a number of folks from Spencer came to shower on a daily basis and worked with our YMCA on some things in that regard and so our number in visitors this summer was actually way up and as we transition into our fall and winter sports for youth we’re seeing a large increase in activity with those kids.”
Fisher says they’re looking into possible areas for further growth but he says there are some limiting factors…
“For instance Camp Foster, growth of that is determined by the number of beds so to speak, for places we can take. Childcare is a big place that you can grow but you’re governed by space with DHS ratios, things of that nature. We’re somewhat capped out on both of those of where we can go. I will tell you we still have growth opportunity at camp. We’re still growing out of the pandemic numbers where at 2019 we had the largest camping season in its history. Staffing is the biggest issue. Now we’re starting to see the economy start to play a different role in that, too. We used to have families that would sign their kids up for multiple weeks now it’s maybe one. So there’s a mixed bag. There’s still some room to grow in some of those spaces but even the flood last year we lost 100 kids signed up for camp within a week of all the flooding across our region, so.”
Fisher gave his annual update at Tuesday’s Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting.
