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Jeweleah Reyes, 7, knows the Y is the place where her daddy works and her mommy used to work. It’s where her parents met and fell in love, and it’s also the building where she learns and plays every day after school.
That’s why after overhearing that a simple bake sale wouldn’t be enough to raise the $5 million to $8 million needed to keep the Northern Lake YMCA in Waukegan, as well as the Vernon Hills facility open, she offered her mom, Rhonda Reyes, her wallet with $4.76 inside. It’s money she’s collected from doing chores and from her grandparents.
“It’s her routine-her safety. She just blossoms here,” said Rhonda of Waukegan.
Having grown up visiting the Y and working there for many years and then serving on the board, Rhonda has many stories about inspirational moments she’s experienced and seen happen to other people at the Y.
The Reyeses' story of why they’re hoping and praying the Waukegan Y stays open is only one of hundreds.
Some have that hope so that they may keep their job, while others want to keep the place where their grandparents, parents and children come together to find a safe haven.
Bringing up the topic of its closure at the Y’s lobby isn’t easy. It literally starts a chain series of teary-eyed parents who gaze at their children with desperation.
A sign that sits on a table by the lobby’s front door informs all who enter that there is a goal to meet that just may save their beloved building from closing.
After the Sept. 28 announcement from YMCA officials stating that the organization was out of money and could no longer keep the Vernon Hills and Waukegan YMCAs open, the community, along with the Y staff, started the endeavor to “Save the Y.”
To date, the campaign has raised $36,025 in less than two weeks, by people giving what they can to raise the money needed before the looming Oct. 31 deadline. Money that will be returned if the goal isn’t met.
“It’s hard, you know. You don’t know when it’s going to end. We ask everyday if there’s any news,” said Robert Knuth of Waukegan, father of Lily Knuth, 8.
Lily is in the after school program and often begs her dad to let her stay “just one more minute” when he comes to pick her up. Her friends, her projects, the pool she likes to swim in, it’s all in that building on Western Avenue.
Lily is too young to understand what her parents are going through. They’re worried about where they might have to leave her after her school days are over.
“When we work late, we know she’s safe here. We haven’t even thought about what we’ll do if it closes; we don’t want to,” Knuth said.
More than 30 families, including the Knuthes have their children enrolled in the before and after school program at the Waukegan Y.
They’ll have until Nov. 21 to make arrangements for where they’ll have their children spend their time if the Y closes.
“We wanted to give parents more time to find a place they’re comfortable with,” said Anne O’Connell of the Lake County Family YMCA.
Alejandro Reyes, 14, of Waukegan knows where he’s going if the Y closes. Actually, his parents decided for him, and he’s not happy about it.
Reyes lives a few blocks from the Y and goes there every day after school to play basketball with the guys, he said. His parents have told him that if the Y closes they’ll take him to the Field House at Hinkston Park to play.
He’s not buying it.
“It’s further away and they don’t always have time to drive me places. I can walk here. This is more convenient,” Reyes said.
He thinks everyone who’s ever used the Y should sign a petition and take it to the mayor, so he can decide to let the Y remain open.
Unbeknown to Reyes, it doesn’t quite work that way. Ever since the announcement of what some fear is the certain closure of this 100-year-old institution, community leaders, including Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabonjian, have had regular meetings and are tapping into every resource they have to help they Y remain open.
It seems to prove difficult for a community whose generations have benefited from its existence to let go without a fight.
Donna Levy of Gurnee knows all about that fight. In a way, she’s been fighting for the Y for 17 years.
Levy, who is a social worker at the Lake County Health Department, use to live in Waukegan when she began going to the Y to workout. She recalls having to wake up very early just to get the spot she wanted in the workout area.
“Back then there were only about three treadmills and this older lady always beat me to the one I wanted,” Levy said. “I’d be here at 5 a.m. and she would still beat me.”
Recently, Levy recalled those early years as she sat in the lobby with her 7-year-old twin daughter by her side and her son in the pool doing laps.
The unknown fate of the place she drives out of her way to get to with her twins seems to make her restless. And she said she’s not alone.
“I’m in denial,” Levy said. “This is my home and I worry about those people who only have this place to go to.”
Program director Devin Johnson is still optimistic someone will come through and lend a generous hand.
“I emailed Bill Gates,” Johnson said.
He said he'll continue to email the Bill and Melida Gates foundation every day if he has to.
It's important for him that the Y remains open, not only so he gets to keep working with kids, which is what he said he loves doing, but also because, "Having the Y in the community to help raise children gives them a positive atmosphere to grow. Without it, who knows where they'll end up. My focus now is on saving it … I feel like the captain … I will not abandon my ship," Johnson said.
Jeweleah Reyes’ mom is also hopeful that anyone who’s ever heard of the Y can come together to make this happen.
“Even if you don’t use the Y, chances are the life of someone you know has been touched by someone from the Y,” Rhonda Reyes said. “Good values are learned here.”
There is a community forum scheduled Friday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. at Park Place, located at 414 S. Lewis Ave., whre the community will be updated on how the Save the Y campaign is going.