MARQUETTE — The YMCA of Maquette County has begun a new chapter.

Judge John T. Gregg approved the YMCA’s reorganizational plan under Chapter 11 at a confirmation hearing on Thursday morning in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan. This marks the end of a long journey for the YMCA, as it filed for Chapter 11 in May 2017 as a result of significant debt accumulated under previous leadership.

The confirmation hearing and emergence from Chapter 11 comes after months of hard work by many parties, said YMCA CEO Jenna Zdunek and YMCA Board of Directors Chairwoman Michele Butler.

“We worked diligently the last 14 months in Chapter 11 but (also) well before that for 28 months to really reset our YMCA and operate like a Y should for a community our size and for a YMCA our size,” Zdunek said. “So we are a new Y and we worked very hard on a five-year budget as well as a new plan, we are operating like we should be and really following the mission and values of our YMCA and continuing to meet the needs of our community.”

They feel the outcome of the confirmation hearing was overwhelmingly positive.

“I think it was the best possible outcome we can get for everybody and for that, I feel very grateful to our counsel and to the YMCA staff and board of directors,” Butler said after the hearing.

They have extensive and realistic plans for on-going stability and repaying debts under agreements with their creditors.

“Our plan and our budget really spell out exactly, realistically, what we can do to be operationally stable,” Zdunek said. “So nothing like this will ever happen again, so we feel very confident.”

However, Butler says, the YMCA is “not out of debt by any means — we’re still going to owe approximately $1.6 million, we have obligations that we’re going to have to meet.”

They’ll be raising capital funds to take care of the remaining debt and expenses.

“We are going to, as a new Y, be out there, with our plan and our program to raise this money,” Butler said. “And it is capital money, to take care of a lot of expenses that were incurred through the remodeling of the existing Y and the remodeling of the Negaunee Y, so we can pay off that back debt.”

The cooperation of two major creditors was instrumental in the success of the confirmation hearing, Zdunek and Butler said.

“Since 28 months ago, we have been working with Range Bank and the USDA and it has been a great collaboration,” Zdunek said. “I think everyone understood the importance of a YMCA in our community, so I’m so thankful for the USDA and Range Bank for working with us, because it really made this hearing go well today, as well as everyone being on the same page and having the same goal in mind, so we’re very appreciative.”

At the close of the hearing, Gregg commended the hard work of all parties in coming to an agreement, saying it was an “exemplary case” where many parties worked hard to come together and “do the right thing.”

With the confirmation hearing behind them, Zdunek says the YMCA will “be starting a whole new chapter of hard work.”

In March 2016, Zdunek became interim CEO following former CEO Lisa Coombs-Gerou’s resignation. Coombs-Gerou had been placed on administrative leave when the YMCA faced financial difficulties arising from money spent beyond the Y’s capabilities — at that time, the YMCA faced $7.5 million in debt.

Zdunek, who the board named permanent CEO in January 2017, has guided the YMCA through many challenging months and brought the local YMCA “back to the basics of a rural YMCA,” Butler said.

“It’s back to how the Y started, the right way, back, almost 25 years ago,” Zdunek said. “Our YMCA of the USA resource director says we really pressed the reset button here in Marquette and really, it was like starting a whole new Y.”

Many of the YMCA’s founding board members — including Butler — had returned to the board to work with Zdunek, aiming to make the YMCA’s operations more cost effective while resolving its debts.

The change in leadership at the CEO and board levels has been a big part of the YMCA’s journey, Butler and Zdunek said.

“(Zdunek has) done an awesome job and our 21 board members have been very supportive and diligent,” Butler said. “Many of founding board members that came back have been just awesome and that’s what’s made it work.”

The YMCA’s leadership worked with many agencies, businesses and financial institutions to reconcile and resolve debt.

“I think it’s really important to note that we worked very hard with everybody, not only everybody locally … but that everybody has cooperated with us to the extent that they’re able,” Butler said.

One of the many avenues pursued to resolve debts and reduce costs was the sale of the Wright Street Child Care Center property.

“We were able to negotiate and eliminate the Wright Street building that we had,” Butler said. “It wasn’t cost effective to have child care there, so child care was moved to the main facility here in Marquette and it’s doing very well there, it’s full and it’s a better place for the kids because they have so many better opportunities,” Butler said.

The move of their licensed child care facility has been positive for many reasons, Zdunek says.

“It’s right in the building, they have just more opportunities, the gymnasium, the kids gym, the pool, our playground in the back, and now it’s stable,” she said.

With the confirmation hearing and many months of challenging reorganization behind them, the YMCA is turning over a new leaf — and getting back to its core missions and services.

“The YMCA is supposed to fill needs in the community, so we’re really going back to ‘What does our community need?'” Zdunek said.

With services such as licensed childcare and a county-wide reach, YMCA is much more than a gym — it’s a unique nonprofit organization that aims to fill diverse needs in the community, Butler and Zdunek said, noting “It’s very much a community resource and it’s become a community center.”

The YMCA has worked toward offering distinctive programming that fills a gap in the community — one such example is the lacrosse program.

“We started a lacrosse program, because that was something that wasn’t happening in the community,” Zdunek said. “And the kids don’t just learn lacrosse, the sport, they also learn our core values and mission and team work, so it’s just so much more.”

People visit the local Y for many reasons besides exercise — it provides a supportive community for people to engage with one another and forge valuable relationships.

“They sit and have lunch, they talk to members, it’s their community,” Zdunek said.

The YMCA’s reach goes far beyond the walls of the Marquette County YMCA, as they offer full-day pre-school at the K.I. Sawyer YMCA Child Development Center, before- and after-school programming at Gwinn’s Gilbert Elementary School, after-school programming at the Youth and Family Center at Lake Superior Village in Marquette, and maintain the West End YMCA in Negaunee.

“We’re just so much more than just the walls of our buildings,” Zdunek said.

They offer scholarships for youth, seniors and families with financial need, so they “don’t turn anyone away,” Zdunek said.

The Strong Kids Campaign is an annual campaign that raises funds to ensure YMCA memberships can be provided to those with financial need — Butler says she was happy to see the outcome of their 2018 campaign.

“The Y has completed their (2018) Strong Kids goal,” Butler said. “And that shows that community is behind what’s going on with the YMCA in Marquette County, it shows that the board is strong and that they’re out there doing their job, asking people to help support.”

Butler and Zdunek said community support has been critical for the YMCA during this period, with many donating to the YMCA’s fundraising campaigns.

Zdunek wants the public to know “how appreciative we are of the community supporting us,” noting a team of board members, staff, community members and businesses worked together to support the YMCA and help them emerge from this challenging financial situation.

“It was inspiring to see how many people came through to help us, to save our Y,” Zdunek said.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is cbrown@miningjournal.net.