MonticelloLive

Wednesday at 4:00, the Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) of Warren and Bradley county dedicated its newly built and renovated facility. The organization received a $4.2 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation for the project, which totally renovated the existing structure and added north and south wings, an upstairs, and a pool house to the facilities. The city of Warren raised almost $1.5 million to meet the challenge from the Reynolds Foundation in order to secure the grant.

Featured on the program were Stephen Anderson, president of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Arkansas Representative and former Warren mayor Greg Reep, as well as other city and local leaders.

The Warren Y was chartered in 1918. The Southern Lumber Company donated the materials to build the first Y.M.C.A., a large two-story facility. It was totally destroyed in a fire in November 1944. After the decision was made to rebuild, the campaign received a $13,677 mystery check from Little Rock, which was half of what was needed to complete the campaign. The unknown benefactor stipulated that the people of Warren had two weeks to match the gift or the check would be null and void. The letter accompanying the check said, “Any attempt to discover the identity of the person sending this check would be a waste of your time.”

The town was able to meet the challenge goal, and the check was cashed. After a lengthy construction and planning process, the new facility was completed and dedicated in 1949. The Y has serviced the community with kids and adult sports teams, activities, swimming, and other community events.

In 2003, the Y.M.C.A Foundation began working aggressively to discover potential grants and after an initial failure, were later awarded the multi-million dollar grant from the Reynolds Foundation.