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Strengthening Our Community Together

Our YMCA is in a unique position to address community needs for child care and healthy recreational living. Through communitywide partnerships, our community will be made even stronger.   

Communities thrive when they are supported by good infrastructure including high-quality schools, child care facilities, access to mental health resources, and recreation. Economic development is fostered by quality of life and a strong sense of culture. The vision for building our YMCA and expanding the services we can offer here began one year ago in January 2023 when a gift was made to the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin by the DeMars family.  The CEO there, Jenny Riggenbach, engaged the family in a strategic planning process that led to touring nearby community resources that would have the type of impact that family was looking to make.  The Stevens Point YMCA CEO, Ryan Zietlow, became involved early on in this project, touring facilities and brainstorming about Waushara County together.  Rigorous research has been done to ensure the sustainability of the Waushara County YMCA, and planning is ongoing so we can “right-size” the build for our budget and community involvement. 

It’s true! Our YMCA has embarked on a HUGE project for this area, but we haven’t done it alone. We have done so in conjunction with a broad range of partners, and more partners are signing on to join us each day.   Our collaborative community partners include: 

  • Waushara County  

  • City of Wautoma 

  • Wautoma Area School District 

  • Local families 

  • Local employers and businesses 

  • Family Trusts and Foundations 

  • Financial planners and trust attorneys 

 

The Waushara County YMCA is excited to be cornerstone of the Waushara County community, serving more than 5,000 people each year.  If you belong to an organization within our community and are interested in developing a partnership with us, please contact Ryan Zietlow at rzietlow@spymca.org or call 715-401-3326.

 

Why Now 

  • Nurture the potential of kids, promote healthy living and foster social responsibility 

  • Provide high quality programs and services for health seekers and their families 

  • Meet the growing physical and social needs of our community 

  • Address a major quality of life indicator for attracting young adults and families to our community 

  • Engage our senior population giving them a place to connect and stay active 

  • Increase our reach in providing high quality child care for our families 

  • Provide access to life changing programs and never turn away for the inability to pay 

  • Create additional opportunities for community collaboration 

 

 

The addition of a YMCA in the Wautoma Area would be a critical piece to the puzzle of increasing youth engagement and youth wellness in our community and beyond.  This type of programming will allow for multigenerational interactions which will only strengthen the bond of our citizenry."  

-Tom Reinheimer, Past Superintendent Wautoma School District