The Sequim Y Advisory Committee met for the first time on June 21 in the Fifth Avenue Independent Living Community with the purpose to guide the new Sequim Y branch.

YMCA staff expect to be operating out of the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center at 610 N. Fifth Ave. beginning this fall.

The 11-member committee organized in May with its first task to lead a $150,000 financial campaign to help open the new Sequim Y.

The campaign, Because Life Is A Community Sport, began June 21 and so far committee members received $25,400 in pledges. Funds go to building repairs such as pool pumps, wall repairs and new program equipment, along with membership assistance so as not to turn away those unable to pay.

Committee members are Mike McAleer, Anita Benitez, Herb Cook, Bob Hitchcock, Gary Huff, Phil Merlin, Sherry Nagel, Virginia O’Neil, Warren Pierce, Ken Stringer and Dennis Watson. Nagel was appointed by the SARC Board as an ex-officio member of the Y Committee.

“We’ve got to get this pool and facility open for the people of our community,” McAleer said.

Hitchcock, the general manager of the Fifth Avenue, is the great-great-great-grandson of one of the founders of the YMCA movement, George Hitchcock, in London, England, in 1846.

“We look forward to partnering with the Y to help make life better for Sequim’s older population,” Hitchcock said.

To contribute to the Sequim Y Campaign, contact the Y at 452-9244 or email Gary Huff at glhuff2@olypen.com.

Editor’s note: Terry Ward, Olympic Peninsula News Group publisher, is an Olympic Peninsula YMCA board member. —­ MD