I watched the 8-year-old jump off the diving board. He didn’t know how to swim. Among us college students who worked at the Burlington, Vermont, YMCA that summer, he was classified as a “sinker.” He flopped into the water and sank like a stone. I dove right in, grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back out. Two minutes later, he was up on the diving board ready to go again!

The YMCA was teaching that boy about life. It was teaching him about persistence, about resilience, about developing skills. It was also teaching him that the community around him matters, it cares about him, and grabs him when he sinks. These are all good lessons to have learned as we face this pandemic.

Our family has belonged to the YMCA all of our lives, both in New York and Maine. Our two children, now grown, thrived in Y programs when they were young, and remain passionate about the Y today. We have not all attained the ideal of healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthy spirits, but we work at it every day.

For the past 10 years I have served on the Kennebec Valley Y’s board of directors. Two years ago I was asked to serve as the chief volunteer officer. Luckily, it doesn’t mean that I have to coordinate the volunteers and their schedules; it’s their name for president of the board. In this role, I have a front row seat into the complex inner workings of the Y. I appreciate in a new way the tremendous passion, commitment, and effort that the entire Y team puts forth every day to make the Y’s myriad programs available to people of all ages in the Kennebec Valley. I’ve also learned how important community fundraising is to make it all possible.

The Y is a great place to get in a good workout, to swim, and to play ball. It is also a place with first-rate child care programs, youth leagues, summer camps, personal training offerings, and active older adult programs like Silver Sneakers. The Manchester and Augusta YMCA facilities are a resource for everyone — from infants to octogenarians.

It’s also a resource for people who cannot otherwise afford a membership. Each year, the generous citizens of this community contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to enable children from low-income families to participate in our youth programs. It is the best kind of youth enrichment and anti-poverty program that can ever exist.

We have also been blessed with outstanding staff leadership. Six years ago, we hired as CEO Tom Warren, whose entire professional career has been devoted to YMCA service. Tom has been a superb manager and a passionate leader.

Tom is retiring this year. But he did not leave the board in the lurch. A few years ago, he identified his then-Senior Program Director Ranae L’Italien as a woman with leadership potential. Tom quietly mentored Ranae and gave her ever-increasing responsibilities, to the point where she became associate executive director. Ranae did her part, soaking in the knowledge and qualities needed for leadership, and earning the loyalty and trust of the Y’s stakeholders.

So when Tom’s effective date of retirement arrived March 31, the decision for our board was easy. We appointed Ranae as our interim executive director.

Then came the pandemic. Ranae was tested immediately, with a set of personnel, financial, and programmatic challenges greater than those faced by any director in my experience. She has responded with strength, decisiveness, and compassion — all the characteristics we need at a time like this.

The Kennebec Valley YMCA now has strong leadership; a strong board; and a strong staff. But our challenges are only beginning.

Our ability to sustain our programs, to serve our members, to support our staff, will be strained as never before by this virus. Nationally, we’re told 200 local YMCAs will close this year. Now we urgently need our whole community to be strong as well. We need to stand behind the Kennebec Valley YMCA.

In short, we are all like the 8-year old boy on the diving board. We’re jumping into unknown waters. With the persistence and resilience to surface and be ready to go again. And we need each other along the sides of the pool to help all those who are struggling. Go to kvymca.org to find up-to-date information on YMCA operations, and to find the button “Donate” so you can financially support this important local institution.

Bill Bridgeo is the president of the Kennebec Valley YMCA’s board of directors. He is also city manager of Augusta.