Before the onslaught of the gated community, two significant developments colored the growth of Avery County in the 20th century. The first was the introduction of the Maine seed potato, which flourished in the mountain soil 3,000 feet above sea level. The second carried greater economical weight as the altitude loving Fraser Fir flourished and led to the county’s christening as the Christmas Tree Capital of the World.

Today another movement, no less significant to the driving forces behind it, is underway in the land that boasts eastern America’s highest county seat in Newland, the tallest peak in the Blue Ridge in Grandfather Mountain, and arguably the greatest concentration of championship golf this side of Pinehurst.

After years of wishful thinking and many months of furious fundraising, the YMCA of Avery County has leapt off the drawing board and onto the landscape on the grounds of the Cannon Memorial Hospital in Linville. The collaboration,  a marriage of necessity mothered by invention, brings with it a myriad of wellness, therapeutic, and social benefits to a region only now perceived ready for a facility such this.

“…we are embarking on a new era of improving the quality of life for all families of Avery County,” said Dr. Phyllis Crain of the Crossnore School for Children. “The YMCA will not only promote wellness, it will serve as a tool to build strong kids, strong families, and strong communities in our High Country.”

Dr. Crain, who has proved a prodigious fund-raiser in her role as an advocate for children throughout her career as an education administrator, got the ball rolling 18 months ago. Teaming with Linville Resorts General Manager John Blackburn, they secured $2 million in pledges in a single day. When the 6,200-square-foot Wellness/Fitness Center opens in March, the campaign will have raised $7 million for YMCA of Avery County. 

The second phase of the project, to include a cool-water lap pool and therapy pool, is scheduled for completion a year later.

“Projects like these don’t happen immediately, but its amazing how people have stepped up,” Dr Crain said.

To manage day-to-day operations, Dr. Crain and her committee hired Kim McLaughlin, who for nine years served as the chief finance officer of the Catawba Valley YMCA with facilities in Hickory and Conover.

“At first this was going to be an extension of the Catawba Valley YMCA,”  McLaughlin said. “But after the feasibility study we thought it better to be an independent YMCA and the Catawba Valley officers agreed.”

And while more than 20 million Americans enjoy membership in the nation’s 2,600 YMCAs, few face the demographic challenges that McLaughlin faces in Avery County.

“You’d like to have 20,000 roof tops within a 10 or 20 minute drive of the facility,” Mclaughlin noted. “We had to go 30 minutes out to count 8,000 households. But we know people in the High Country will travel.”

Fiscal realities and construction costs have resulted in a lean, fat-free building strategy shaped by McLaughlin and her board of directors designed to assure not only survival but prosperity. The original free-standing, 36,000 square foot building concept over a 10-acre tract adjacent to the hospital has been scrapped. Instead, the Wellness/Fitness Center will utilize existing space in the Sloop Medical Park connected to the main hospital building just a mile from the Linville Post Office.

“New construction proved more costly than anticipated,” McLaughlin explained, “but through renovation and additions to the existing building we can avoid taking on debt.”

The partnership with the hospital also serves to meet reimbursement guidelines for Medicare and Medicaid in providing patients with Critical Access Rehabilitation at the new YMCA.

“It’s imperative for us to promote the welfare of the community and work together with the hospital to serve their patients too,” McLaughlin said.

The more cost-effective approach will cut no corners in its offerings, however, and the fitness center under construction is actually larger than originally planned. A walking track, plus the latest treadmills, ellipticals and lifecycles staffed by professional trainers will promote cardio-vascular health. Resistance equipment and free weights will round out phase one offerings.

Phase two, scheduled for completion in time for the YMCA’s official grand opening in January 2008, includes a multi-purpose gym, aquatic center, locker rooms, group exercise studio, a rock climbing wall and spinning cycle studio. A Kid Zone will provide children’s programs and an opportunity for parents enjoy the facilities at will.

From the beginning, a child development center has been at the core of the project which, according to Dr. Crain “will provide pre-school children of working parents an excellent curriculum offering strong physical, cognitive, emotional and social foundations in a nurturing environment.”

The goals of the project’s leadership are lofty. Success or failure now rests with the community they want to serve.

“As with other YMCAs in similar communities, the YMCA of Avery County will be sustained through membership dues, program fees, and on-going community support,” said Blackburn, a board member of both the YMCA and Appalachian Regional Healthcare System. “In order to achieve our ultimate goals, continued support and engagement from all businesses is crucial.”

McLaughlin estimates it will take 800 membership units, individual and family, to break even. In a county of 17,000 year-round residents, she believes the new Y needs “1,400 noses” on the membership rolls. A daily fee structure will augment income when McLaughlin hopes “winter and summer visitors will look to us as an alternative recreational opportunity.”

This December, community support gets tested as charter memberships to the YMCA of Avery County go on sale for the first time. Membership and Marketing Director Danielle Howard, who grew up in Linville and was McLaughlin’s first hire, is charged with overseeing the drive.

“There’s lots of excitement in the community,” Howard said, “but what’s really important to our success is membership retention - to keep people engaged and interested in what we’re doing.”

To those ends McLaughlin is currently screening applicants for a director of wellness programs and an aquatics director.

Ultimately, McLaughlin and her board of directors see a full complement of recreational, rehabilitation, and therapeutic facilities, acres of playing fields, summer camps and programs for all seasons for all ages. So far, the project’s progress has defied every demographic model that foster skepticism. Failure failed to be an option when ground was broken last October.

“We have to reach our fiscal goals,” McLaughlin said. “Out in the community, the need, the want, the excitement is real. We’re making it loud and clear: This YMCA is for the residents of Avery County. They’re going to be proud. The community is going to support us.”

If McLaughlin has her way, this will be one Christmas where the gift of good health is found under every tree in the county.

After all, “membership,” as they like to say in Linville these days, “does have its privileges.”

To learn more about YMCA of Avery County and its charter membership drive, call 828-737-5500.
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