There will be more splish-splashing at the Moorestown Community House pool coming soon.
Recently, the YMCA of Burlington and Camden Counties announced an expanded partnership with the Community House in Moorestown. The Y will be managing the use of the pool at the MCH and providing new programs through the partnership, making the pool more open and accessible to Moorestown and the surrounding community.
“(This partnership) benefits the community by offering more programs for the community members and is good for the MCH because it provides usage of our pool. We love the YMCA and thought this would be a great partnership for Moorestown,” MCH Executive Director Brad Kenney said.
“The Y is really just a community-based organization just like the MCH … To be able to pull two great organizations together is a great thing to do, and we’re looking forward to pulling it off in a year or so,” Y President and CEO Tim Kerrihard said.
The Y has enjoyed a strong history with Moorestown. In 1926, it established its “home base” in the basement of MCH. In 1927, the Y first became involved with MCH through the International YMCA Service Club. The club — now called the Y Service Club — still meets weekly at the Mt. Laurel Y. The Community House is also where Adventure Guides got its start in the 1920s. Numerous other programs were launched from the Main Street location.
“Before we had a physical building, the Y was based out of the MCH for about 15 years. But we’ve continued to partner with them; we’ve always done some things in their pool when needed,” Kerrihard said.
To expand their community partnership and use of the MCH pool, Kenney and Kerrihard worked together to create this new expanded partnership.
“It seemed logical to reach out to them and they were interested in a homecoming to come back. Through the partnership, community members would have more programs right there in the center of town and managed by a great organization like the YMCA,” Kenny said.
Through the agreement, the Y will complement MCH’s services by managing the pool and providing Y aquatics programs, including lap and family swimming, infant self rescue swimming lessons, water walking classes, parent-child swim lessons, private swim lessons, competitive swimming and free/family swim times.
“The YMCA is looking to hold a lot of programs. We’re extremely excited for that. We would love more people to come in and use this building,” Kenney said.
Tom Wilkinson’s learn-to-swim program, a hands-on group swim program focused on teaching proper swimming fundamentals and stroke mechanics to children 3 to 10, will remain intact. Learn more about the program online at the website www.twlts.org. The Y will also rent space to swim teams that have relationships with MCH. Rental groups, large and small, will be under the supervision of the Y’s certified lifeguards.
“By the MCH standards, you were to bring your own lifeguard. With us, we provide a lifeguard for you,” Kerrihard said.
Under the new agreement, YMCA facility members and MCH pool members will have access to the pool for free.
“This arrangement offers members of all ages access to another conveniently located pool in the heart of Moorestown. The Y will continue to partner with Moorestown to provide top-notch, reliable and fun programs whenever and wherever an appropriate opportunity presents itself. We appreciate and recognize the valuable partnership we have had with this wonderful community and look forward to serving the community together for the next 90 years and beyond,” Kerrihard said in a release.
A variety of additional membership options are available, from pool memberships with no contracts and no joiner fee starting at $35 a month for an individual and $50 a month for a family, to private swim lessons and pay-as-you-go rates for swimming laps and water walking. For more information about pool memberships at the MCH, contact Eric Zott at ericz@ymca-bc.org or call (856) 231–9622 ext. 350.
