Heritage YMCA joins Chicago Y

Without the small print being added to signs and stationery, Heritage YMCA officials contend members would never even know about a deal struck between the group and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

Heritage President and CEO Tom Beerntsen said the pact has been in the works for more than four years and means the Chicago organization will absorb the Heritage YMCA's assets and liabilities just as the regional group kicks off an $11 million network-wide investment in 2011.

“It's an integration of two organizations with a common mission to serve the community and is going to be a great situation for both sides,” Beerntsen said. “Chicago takes over our debts and facilities but we then get the strength of their organization that has the volume and mass already built into the areas of marketing, communications and the network's now increased purchasing power.”

With more than 20,000 members, the Heritage YMCA Group includes the Kroehler and Fry Family branches, the 87th Street Field House in far west Naperville and the downtown Oswego facility, in addition to numerous programs conducted in locations throughout Aurora.

“We have the four centers and those continue to need upkeep and repair and renovation,” Beerntsen said. “Those things over time would require millions of dollars.”

With all the moving and shaking going on behind the scenes, Beerntsen said members will continue to be served by the same board of directors, pay the same rates and be greeted by the same Heritage staff at all four locations.

“If we could have pulled this off in the middle of the night, no one would know what happened,” he said.

Regular fitness club members, however, likely will appreciate more frequent turnover of equipment and a slightly expedited schedule for capital improvements, including the planned family locker room addition at the Fry Family YMCA at 2120 W. 95th St.

“Because Chicago has 20 locations they can make regular mass purchases of equipment. Every year one-third of their equipment is recycled,” Beerntsen said. “So throughout the system, the equipment will be able to be much newer and easier maintained.”

The partnership also opens the door to a broader horizon for the organization's staff, which will see power in numbers. They will find new professional development options in the larger employee pool, and more places to move within the organization.

“They'll have lots of opportunities to go along a career path,” Beerntsen said. “And that may continue at Heritage or they may choose to locate to any of the other network sites depending on the availability of the responsibilities they seek.”

Despite the new partnership, the Heritage Group also intends to continue with its centennial celebration marking the anniversary of the formal dedication in 1911, planned for March 26 at the Kroehler YMCA. A family picnic probably will be planned at a yet-to-be-determined date.

“It's pretty neat to be able to celebrate those 100 years while charting the course for the next 100 years,” Beerntsen said.