The YMCA in Chinatown reopened its doors Monday after closing at the start of the pandemic.
Members of the Chinatown Y, located at 273 Bowery, will be celebrating the reopening Saturday and encouraging people to join or reactivate their membership.
The Chinatown Y, which serves a diverse community, now offers state-of-the-art fitness equipment, a swimming pool for lap and family swims, group fitness classes, a sauna, basketball, and programs geared towards youth, teenagers, adults, and seniors.
Michael Keller, the executive director of the Chinatown YMCA, told amNewYork Metro that the pandemic forced the YMCA to suspend all of its services.
“We had to stop our membership services and all of the operations for several months,” Keller said. “That was painful.”
In the fall of 2020, the Chinatown Y began to slowly reopen and had the opportunity to “listen to the community” and reassess the neighborhood’s needs. The administrators knew that the senior group programs and exercise classes were critical, along with the after-school programs. They were particularly concerned about student learning loss.
“We restarted services slowly by meeting the community,” Keller said. “What the community needed was childcare and educational and academic reinforcement.”
Keller pointed to added support and operational funding from elected officials, including local Council Member Christopher Marte (D-1) and Senator Brian Kavanagh (SD-27), who helped secure government funding to restart the important programs and services. The officials will be attending the community day on Saturday.
Marte, who was personally impacted by its closing, expressed his excitement over the Chinatown Y, and especially its aquatic facility, reopening in a statement to amNewYork Metro.
“We’ve been working with the YMCA and coordinating across city agencies to make sure this reopening can happen as quickly as possible,” Marte said. “I’ve been swimming at the Chinatown Y for years, and have met so many of my neighbors and constituents through the pool and gym. I’ve personally felt the impact of its closing, and shared the frustrations of constituents who’d contact our office every week for over a year, asking when it was going to be open again.”
In 2022, the Chinatown Y continued to add more programming, including partnering with local Asian American and Pacific Islander groups to address anti-Asian hate and bullying. Still then, the facility wasn’t able to fully reopen.
The Chinatown Y serves people from Chinatown, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Alphabet City, Soho, and even people coming from Brooklyn.
The work-from-home model will make for an interesting adjustment in the new post-pandemic era, Keller added.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what the new, if any, change in lifestyle post-pandemic will show,” Keller said.
Keller said the reopened Chinatown Y “looks gorgeous” and said having a pool in New York City is “almost like a mirage for some people.” As executive director, Keller is looking forward to the day-to-day function and interaction of all the people who engage with the Chinatown Y.
The Chinatown Y, as well as other YMCA locations around New York City, play an integral role in the communities they serve, including reducing loneliness and providing a space where friendships and relationships can be built. With the Chinatown Y fully reopening, Keller stated that it’s yet another symbol of New York City’s resilience.
“We’re so much a part of New York. We build communities within communities,” Keller said. “This whole sense of community and watching it come together is the most exciting thing for me.”
The Chinatown Y Community Day will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with family-friendly activities and open to the public.
To learn more about the Chinatown YMCA membership and its fees, visit this website: https://ymcanyc.org/locations/chinatown-ymca/membership
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