Comments (0) | |

Monday, Jan. 12, 2009

Former workers question if YMCA lived up to its mission

BONAIRE — Maybe Pamela Thompson put it best as she gathered her thoughts on the Dec. 5 closure of the Houston County YMCA.

“It’s a Christian organization,” the part-time yoga instructor lamented. “They shouldn’t have treated their employees that way.”

Thompson, along with 20 to 40 instructors, teachers and nursery attendants, lost their jobs abruptly that Friday. Some of them insist that they were not paid for final work performed nor reimbursed for supplies and materials bought during the recreational facility’s last days.

They also describe a frenzied — even bizarre — closing process that whipsawed their emotions as managers issued assurances that the Moody Road center would remain open.

The actual number of employees affected by the shutdown is unknown since personnel records are not available and few officials were willing to answer questions.

The news release announcing the closure said that 520 family memberships with an estimated 1,000 children were impacted — a bitter ending for an organization that says it puts “Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all.”

Documents obtained by The Telegraph show frantic — sometimes questionable — efforts to save a facility deeply mired in debt.

In a Nov. 25 e-mail, Elaine Milteer, a board member and chief volunteer officer for the local YMCA, pleaded with national officials to reverse plans to revoke the local charter.

Milteer, a budget analyst in Air Force Reserve Command headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, asked for a 90-day extension to try to raise $250,000.

“That would clear all our past debt to include the one-year advance payment on liability insurance,” she wrote, “and make all the payments to get us current with state and federal payroll taxes.”

Donald McCarthy, a field service specialist at the national office in Chicago, denied the extension request in a Nov. 26 response and closed the door on any sanctioned fundraising campaign.

“The decision to recommend termination was not based solely on financial issues,” McCarthy wrote. “Without proper leadership, donors should not be asked to contribute.”

The national official said the local YMCA had no “strategic or tactical plan in place,” and any approach to donors “could be viewed as deceptive fundraising and tarnish the name of the YMCA.”

Milteer did not respond to voice mails left at her Robins office requesting additional comment, nor could she be reached at her Bonaire home. Greg Topping, the local YMCA’s executive director until the December closure, could not be located and may have moved from the area. Shawn Buchanan, identified as chairman of the board of directors, would not comment except to say that he was “not involved at the time of closure.”

Mamie Moore, media relations manager for the national office, said the agency’s policy is not to discuss details related to membership status.

“However, the Houston County YMCA charter withdrawal was due to failure to meet membership standards,” Moore wrote Thursday in an e-mailed response to questions. “Also, the Houston County YMCA had faced financial challenges for several consecutive years.”

Moore stressed that pulling the charter does not force an agency to cease operations. “It simply means the organization can no longer operate as a YMCA,” she said.

Asked if the national organization could assist employees with back pay and unreimbursed expenses, Moore underscored that each of 2,686 YMCAs across the country is autonomous.

“(We) are a national resource office,” she added. “We do not own or control the operation of any of our member associations.”

One local board member, Warner Robins architect Jim Mitchell, did agree to discuss the closure, but his focus was on the perceived cold shoulder that the national YMCA office offered.

“That was my biggest concern and disappointment,” he said. “They absolutely refused to do anything to help out.”

Mitchell praised the executive director who had taken the position early in 2008.

“Greg (Topping) was doing a great job, but we just couldn’t get the finances we needed,” the board member said. “He was trying to reorganize and make the operation more efficient. So we were all amazed that the national (YMCA) wouldn’t step in and at least help us temporarily. All we got was a prompt response that they were shutting us down.”

Mitchell said he was saddened by the closure and the financial impacts on employees.

“I’m not aware of how that was handled,” he said. “But, for example, we got to the point that we had to buy our liability insurance, and I contributed $300 to get that taken care of. Then almost immediately the national (YMCA) shut us down.”

‘ALL ... DO OUR PART’

Thompson, who has a full-time job at Robins, is better positioned than most YMCA employees to weather the job loss. She was more bewildered by how the closure process was handled.

The part-time instructor said the first firm inkling of serious financial problems came Aug. 18 when employees were told to “not cash or deposit paychecks for a few days due to a revenue shortfall.”

Then her October and November paychecks, each for $32.32, were returned for insufficient funds.

Local YMCA management held a town hall meeting Nov. 17 to assure members of the center’s continued viability.

Five days later, they delivered the same message to employees.

“The Nov. 22 meeting was the weirdest I’ve ever attended,” Thompson said. “They stressed the YMCA would remain open, and we should provide the best customer service possible. We thought we were already doing that.”

Michelle Wilson took a more significant hit than Thompson. She worked as a full-time fitness instructor and camp director after joining the YMCA staff in September 2008. Both Wilson and her 16-year-old daughter, Ashley, felt the bite of the agency’s financial woes.

One two-week check for $154.55 bounced, she said. She is still owed $294 for another three-week period. Her daughter’s check for $170 for nursery work also bounced, and that’s only part of the story, she said.

“Greg (Topping) asked me to put purchases on my credit card and the YMCA would reimburse me,” Wilson said. “I made purchases of $222 and $110 in October and I was never reimbursed. When I asked about it, Greg said he was out $3,000 for liability insurance, and we all had to do our part to keep the doors open.”

Kelly Sprill had a more poignant experience. The part-time camp coordinator appeared to offer a lifeline for the besieged agency through family contacts with Coca-Cola in Atlanta. The possibility of a $200,000 grant surfaced, and Milteer pressed Sprill to push for the funds, although Milteer was aware of the negative news from the national office.

“I wanted to let you know that ... if we could raise $125,000 Houston Healthcare will match it,” Milteer e-mailed Sprill on Nov. 25.

Priscilla Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Houston Healthcare, said hospital officials had discussed a possible gift to the YMCA, but nothing was finalized. “There was never a promise of matching funds,” she said.

The pressure on Sprill continued until the Dec. 5 closure. An e-mail from program director Shannon Cobb urged her to push for the money.

“If possible, we still need the donation from Coca-Cola,” Cobb wrote. “We have payroll we need to pay or people will not get their next check. ... Just contact me or Mr. Greg and let us know how much it will be.”

Sprill said the grant option was canceled when the local YMCA closed.

“They were still pushing for the grant on the day the YMCA closed and a press release had been made to announce it,” Sprill said. “Plus they were still collecting membership fees the day before they closed.”

The employees have little hope of receiving the money they are owed. Sprill said she was turned down by the national office.

Thompson offered a final assessment: “This is a Christian organization that regretfully may not have lived up to its core values.”

To contact writer Gene Rector, call 923-3109, extension 239.