Community celebrates Y's official arrival

SANDPOINT — Sometimes, where opportunity and preparation cross paths, luck presents itself and wonderful things happen.

That, Kendon Perry, told the dozens who gathered Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the official grand opening, is what happened with what is now Litehouse YMCA in Sandpoint.

“I think this community is very blessed with preserverance, commitment and I would also throw in a little bit of luck,” Perry told those gathered. “So my son informed me that luck is when preparation and opportunity cross paths. And, absolutely, that’s exactly what happened here.”

Nine years of dedicated effort in Sandpoint to bring an affordable option for familes to recreate and have fun met the commitment, preparation and dedication of the Y in Spokane, around since 1884. Add in the chance to partner with Litehouse Foods and the result is what the community sees now in Litehouse YMCA.

Efforts to bring something like the Y to Sandpoint go back many years, with countless people involved in the process. It was after reaching out to the YMCA officials in Spokane as well as those at Litehouse that, when the opportunity presented itself when Don and Sue Helander, owners of what was then Sandpoint West Athletic Club, were looking to sell the longtime health club, all were ready.

“I think the values of these two organizations very much parallel each other. So Kelly, Rob, I don’t think Jim Frank is here but your team and all your employee owners, I thank you very much for the opportunity to support what we’re going to do here and I think the future is very, very bright,” added Perry. “The other people that I think deserve some recognition are the owners Don and Sue Helander. They saw the same thing, an opportunity for their business that they had worked hard to build, to grow and foster and take that next step into the future.”

Tuesday’s event isn’t so much a celebration of the YMCA, but more a celebration of community, Steve Tamarro, president and CEO of the YMCA of the Inland Northwest, said.

“And it’s interesting as you live in different communities because you see what really communities value,” Tamarro said, noting he’s lived around the country while working for the YMCA. “Each community has something that they consider special, it may be the beautiful nature that surrounds it, people talk about the school systems and people talk about culture and theater and professional sports team and here’s what we’ve always found when we move from community to community, that the measure of any great community is its willingness to develop a safety net, its willingness to help people less fortunate among them, and that’s this community.”

Standing in front of the Y it’s easy to see the results of that community effort and what it values, Tamarro said.

“This was such a tremendous community effort, where people came together with their time, treasure and talent and wanted to do something good for the community,” he added. “We’re so appreciative of being invited in because there’s many people who can do this kind of work but you turned to the YMCA and asked us to be a partner. And we’re always going to be appreciative of that.”

To show that appreciation, the Y is going to have programs of youth development, nuture the potential of the community’s youth and be commited to social responsibility and help make the community a healthier place to be.

“What I said at the outset about leaving a safety net and one of the ways you weave any net is through threads and the threads of this community came together,” Tamarro said, turning to Litehouse President Kelly Prior and other Litehouse officials, adding that one of the most important threads was Litehouse Foods stepping up to help fund the Sandpoint YMCA.

“When we met with them, one of the things that struck me was how our values align, the values of the YMCA and the values of Litehouse,” Tamarro said. “And in an age when sometimes people are more critical of corporations, and more critical of institutions, this is an example of generosity and commitment by a corporation.”

Prior said he’s often asked why Litehouse and why the YMCA. It’s really several things, he added.

“One of those being our core values,” he added. “They’re really a lot in alignment with the YMCA and specifically for us, our faith and stewardship and core values really aligns with where the Y is. Really on behalf of the board of directors, our founders, on behalf of all the employee owners, we really are appreciative of what we’ve been able to partner with together to bring the Y to Sandpoint.”

The other is families. The YMCA is about families as is Litehouse and having an opportunity like the YMCA to bring more family activities to the community one Litehouse officials looked at closely at and decided it was a great partnership.

“Families and core values are perfect examples of how we can work together and we look forward to many more years of working with the YMCA,” Prior said.

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.