MOUNTAIN IRON — “You are going to be active; you are going to work on being strong, and it’s going to be part of your daily routine,” Sharon Chadwick of Eveleth told herself when she retired.
She kept to her promise to go to the Mesabi Family YMCA in Mountain Iron, until last summer’s crushing news the facility would be closing.
Chadwick was one of the hundreds of local residents and regional funders who created the YMCA over 30 years ago. Now she finds herself in a similar situation, working with a group of committed people in the Mesabi Fit Coalition.
Chadwick was a recent guest on the KAXE Morning Show.
“We are trying to figure out how to reinvent … how we become more relevant to the community and all the different aspects of the community,” she said.
But starting over isn’t easy. It’s “an intense reality of how you get something that big started up again from scratch,” Chadwick said.
“We are trying to figure out how to reinvent."Sharon Chadwick, Mesabi Fit Coalition
Why did the Mesabi Family YMCA close?
According to Chadwick, the decision to close was due to funding, COVID-19 and membership, as well as a building that wasn’t being maintained.
Funding sources so far include the Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation, the Blandin Foundation and local and state governments. The committed group of volunteers at the Mesabi Fit Coalition are also looking for corporate sponsors and other sources of funding.
Local support is needed for communities to thrive
“Here’s my advice to everyone,” Chadwick said. “If you see something that you think maybe has a value in keeping, don’t let it close.”
She described the initial inertia after the closing of the Mesabi Family YMCA as “insane.”
Mesabi Fit Coalition is on its way to reopening for the community, with the purchase of the old YMCA building and a capital campaign.
“It wasn’t just, you know, for me,” Chadwick said, about wanting to find another place for swimming laps to stay healthy. She sees the project as a vision of the community coming together to build livable communities on the Range.
The vision includes a family place where kids and all ages can find classes and fitness opportunities like an indoor play gym, inflatable obstacle course in the water and electronic fitness options.
“I’m incredibly proud of the group,” Chadwick said.
Find more information about the building of a new fitness center in Mountain Iron at Mesabi Fit Coalition.