Building Fun & Strengthening Community for 45 Years: Support our Southeast Y Playground Project
Our Monroe County YMCA is thrilled to announce our 2025 Southeast Playground Project through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s (IHCDA) CreatINg Places program! To celebrate 45 years in Monroe County, we are raising $45,000 for a new playground at our Southeast Y to be enjoyed by our Summer Camp kids, Y members, and the Monroe County community at large. If we meet our fundraising goal by Friday, June 27, the $45k will be matched by the IHCDA—but we need your help to get there! Your support will help us provide a space where all children can learn, grow, and thrive while building lifelong friendships and staying active.
About the 2025 Playground Project
We work hard to ensure our Summer Camp provides a fun and safe opportunity for young people to explore the outdoors, build self-esteem, develop interpersonal skills, and make lasting friendships. A new playground will help our Y continue facilitating the best summer ever, every summer! This playground will also be an incredible resource for families living in the neighborhoods surrounding the Southeast Y, along with the children and families who visit our facility every day.
Stronger Kids, Stronger Communities: Let's Play it Forward!
The site of our future playground is adjacent to an existing playground, the latter of which we'll relocate to our Northwest Y! The location of the current playground has created runoff issues, which will be accounted for during the construction of our new playground. Over time, these water-related issues have left our playground in a suboptimal state—our kids deserve better.
Our goal is to replace the existing structure with a modern, state-of-the-art playground, but we cannot do it without your support. Our hundreds of Summer Campers and the Bloomington and Ellettsville families who frequent our Y will enjoy this playground for years to come, and we have selected a design that will appeal to a broad age range.
This playground will include:
- An expansive play structure capable of hosting multiple camp groups and families
- Scaled features supporting kids ages 2-12
- Modern and thoughtful design features that will provide a longer lifespan, allowing sustainable maintenance for years to come
- Opportunities for fun, memory-making, and good old-fashioned outdoor recreation!
All local children have a seat at our table, a turn on our slide, and a place to spend their summers at the Y.
At the Y, strengthening community is our cause. Every day, we work side-by-side with our neighbors to ensure everyone, regardless of age, income, or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive. The best example of this is our Y for All Scholarship Fund, which gives families a safe place to stay active together and allows children to spend an enriching summer unplugged and outdoors with friends. In 2024, our Y for All campaign provided financial assistance for 372 weeks of Summer Camp, giving campers a summer full of memories and working parents peace of mind while their children were out of school.
Our local children of Bloomington and Ellettsville deserve a safe place in the community where they can build relationships and foster a sense of personal achievement. Our Y for All Scholarship Fund allows us to give a helping hand to any local neighbor who needs support.
This project's impact will reach far beyond Summer Camp, with the playground being open to the public at all times outside our structured camp programming. This expansive, sustainable playground will create lasting benefits for all guests of our Y!
Swing into Action: Support our Playground Initiative
We are asking YOU to join this impactful initiative! If we reach our goal of $45,000 by Friday, June 27, all donations will be matched by the IHCDA. Donations of $100 or more qualify for recognition opportunities, which are detailed in the table below.
Please visit our crowd-granting page hosted by Patronicity to gift a donation today. We are profoundly grateful to anyone who gives at any level. If you can't support the project with a monetary donation, please help us spread the word about this exciting initiative!
Prefer to give offline, have questions, or want to learn more about the Y's impact in our community? Contact:
Kevin Vail
Development Director
812-961-2362
info@monroecountyymca.org
