Officials break ground on the new Morris Hospital YMCA

Construction will begin on the new Morris Hospital YMCA soon now that the ground is officially broken.

Officials gathered at 2200 Dupont Ave. near Morris Elementary and West Side Park Wednesday afternoon to move some dirt, symbolic for the future construction.

Greater Joliet YMCA President Katy Leclair said the story behind the new Morris Hospital YMCA starts with passionate volunteers and a generous community.

She said a team of 15 couples led by Kevin and Mary Olson, Guy and Jan Christensen, and Jackie and her late husband Ron Wohlwend worked tirelessly with 50 full time staff and more than 550 part-time staff across the YMCA to bring the vision to life.

Kevin Olson, the co-chairman of the Capital Campaign Leadership Board, said there was even a late addition thanks to the generosity of donors: What was going to be a six-lane pool is going to be a regulation competition eight-lane swimming pool.

Missy Durkin, the Greater Joliet YMCA’s Chief Operation Officer, said this is a vision that started in 2005.

“That vision cast in 2005, has come into focus over the last two decades as more and more individuals, organizations and community partners came to the table to support and work with the Y,” Durkin said.

Morris Hospital came together as a partner with the YMCA to make the new facility happen, with President Thomas Dohm saying he remembers the initial excitement around the new temporary YMCA that opened at the former Morris City Hall at 230 Wauponsee St.

He said he remembers there being a clear vision for collaboration then with the hopes that the YMCA could achieve a full-service facility in the future.

“We are today standing on the very ground where that vision is now becoming reality,” Dohm said. “From the start of our partnership between the Morris Hospital and the YMCA, it’s been a perfect match.”

The YMCA and Morris Hospital both have a strong family focus, Dohm said, and each organization services all people regardless of their ability to pay. Each is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the community.

“The YMCA helps Morris Hospital focus on preventative care so we can reduce heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pulmonary disease and obesity in our community,” Dohm said.

Olson said this YMCA is his generation’s gift to the community just like the generations during the early 1900s, left Morris with the Morris Hospital when it opened in 1906.

The new YMCA will be a full-facility with a competition swimming pool, gymnasium, wellness center, demonstration teaching kitchen, multipurpose rooms, child-watch spaces and a collaborative partnership with Morris Hospital, who will be under the same roof sharing about 9,000 square feet of the about 60,000 square foot building.

The 13.5 acres of land that the YMCA will be built on was donated by the families that operate D Construction, and donors include the City of Morris, the Evenson Family, Morris Hospital, Ron and Jackie Wohlwend and many, many more. Also included in the funding for this project is a $500,000 grant from the State of Illinois.

Durkin said the project is also on U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood’s, R-Dunlap, prioritized list with a recommendation for a $3.5 million in funding. Durkin said she expects to learn more on if that comes to fruition later this year.