SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) –– The YMCA of Central New York is a lot more than just a gym to its members. Unfortunately, the Y was forced to close the doors to its fitness center at all eight of its locations last March. The only parts of the buildings open were the senior residencies and child care facilities.
“Community and family and friendships that really are created at the Y are so important to what we do,” said the Y’s director of marketing and communications, Stefanie Noble.
This left members of the Y without a place to work out or for children to attend programs. After the shutdown though, the Y went online and created a virtual facility.
“Our concept of a virtual Y is sort of a very holistic thing to bring the experiences of the Y to someone in a way that works for them,” Noble said.
Noble added that one of the more popular options online was virtual classes. Members were able to find recorded sessions of programs and do them at any time they wanted. The Y also offered a guest speaker series and moved its writing center online.
“Some of our local instructors do their classes and have them live for people to access, we have also had a pretty large range of speaker series throughout the past few months,” Noble said.
Noble added that many other YMCAs across the country turned to a virtual option once the pandemic started. Even though the Y has completely reopened, virtual classes are still offered and remain popular.
