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Homewood-Brushton YMCA Reopens After Months-Long Closure

In June, an electrical fire forced the closure of the Homewood-Brushton YMCA facility. Initially, YMCA officials had expected to reopen the facility in late summer or early fall, but the whole building had to be cleaned because of smoke damage, and the entire electrical system had to be repaired. Even with the facility closed, many programs were able to continue.

“A church about two blocks over, Shiloh Community Baptist Church, allowed us to come into their facility,” said Julie Motley-Williams, director of contract compliance with the Homewood-Brushton YMCA. “They have a brand new addition that was built which is very large, and it was able to accommodate most of the staff, so we were able to continue running all of our social services programs over there.”

The employment center was run out of the Carnegie Library Homewood Branch. Still, the closure of the facility meant the gym was closed and did affect members of the community.

“We have a family support center and they serve families who have children ages 0 to 5,” said Motley-Williams. “We have after school and summer camp for ages 5 to 13, then we have a prevention program and that’s for middle and high school aged-kids.”

Plus, she said there is a food bank, the employment center and a wellness and gym facility, which was closed. The facility reopened this week, but an official kick-off celebration is being held Friday evening for Halloween.

“We are so excited and we are so happy to see everyone because some of the people weren’t coming in to use the gym or fitness center,” said Motely Williams.

Programming at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA will continue as normal, and more programming, including computers and robotics will be added later.