Blog Archive ? Now is the Time for a YMCA in Mount Pleasant

By Lori Clay Maguire

Now is the time for a YMCA in Mount Pleasant, according to Tom Earnhardt, a 28-year veteran physician?s assistant and Mt. Pleasant native who is Chief Operating Officer of Cabarrus Family Medicine.? He and others are trying to raise money and meeting with YMCA officials to try to establish a YMCA in Mt. Pleasant.?

Earnhardt sees patients regularly at the CFM?s Mt. Pleasant office.? One of the medical conditions Earnhardt treats there most often is arthritis ? years of farming and hard labor have wreaked havoc on many of Mount Pleasant?s residents. Access to a warm water pool could be a tremendous help, he said. ?Warm water exercise is a great form of treatment. It builds muscle strength, relaxes stiff joints and provides pain relief.?

And that?s just one of the ways a YMCA could benefit the community. Fighting childhood obesity, providing a safe place for teens to gather, offering exercise classes and other programs that enhance family and community living are a few more, he said.

Three years ago, Earnhardt undertook a campaign to establish a YMCA in Mount Pleasant. The Cannon Memorial YMCA board gave half the money for a study to see if there would be enough membership support for a Y in Mount Pleasant, and Earnhardt paid the rest out of his own pocket.??

?I felt it was so important to get the project off the ground, that I was happy to pay for half the study costs,? he said.

But he wasn?t pleased with the results. The study determined through a narrow look at the U.S. 49 and the N.C. 73 corridors that there wasn?t enough population to support a Y, Earnhardt said. But he believes that if the study had taken in a broader swath of Cabarrus County and the outlying areas into Stanly County, like Locust and Oakboro, it would have proven to be a well-supported YMCA.

The Cannon Memorial YMCA nixed the idea of a Mount Pleasant YMCA, telling Earnhardt, ?It?s a great idea, but not now.?

Earnhardt said he thinks the time has come to proceed with a health and fitness center in Mount Pleasant, whether it?s through the YMCA or another non-profit agency. He has established a board of directors for what he has named The Eastern Cabarrus Health and Recreation Center, and has appealed to the board of directors of the Cannon Memorial YMCA once again.

He said he?s not asking for money, just support through the use of the YMCA franchised name to begin fund-raising efforts. If the project doesn?t go through, the money raised will still go to the Cannon Memorial YMCA, he said. But he says he?s discouraged again because he?s been told the board is likely to return another ?not now? decision.

Earnhardt said he?s ready for a health and fitness center in Mount Pleasant, and he believes the town?s residents and people in outlying areas are too. Another option is to start filing for non-profit status and create a stand-alone health and fitness center with no YMCA connection.

But Earnhardt said he feels the Cannon Memorial YMCA brand would be ideal for Mount Pleasant.

?There are three Cannon Memorial YMCAs in the county ? one in Kannapolis, one in Concord serving West Cabarrus, and one in Harrisburg. It just makes sense for the eastern part of Cabarrus County ?to be represented with a YMCA.?

According to Earnhardt, ?There is a huge disparity of exercise facilities in Cabarrus County. With obesity on a steep upward slope, we need to take our health and well-being seriously.? ?He further quoted a report by The Clinton Foundation which states that over the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among children of all age groups, increasing nearly five-fold among those ages 6-11 and that today, nearly 25 million children are overweight or obese.? The report also states that if the obesity rates among children continues to increase, our current generation of children will become the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents.?

??I am hopeful the Cannon Memorial YMCA will see the value and importance of establishing a facility in Eastern Cabarrus County.? I realize it will be a challenge but so are most worthwhile projects.? Adequate exercise facilities should be available to all residents of Cabarrus County and this project would go a long way in meeting that need.?

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Source: http://insidestanly.com/?p=3870

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