Developing Recreation

Preserving quintessential summers spent at the local pool, promoting engaging after-school programs for kids, and overseeing efforts to support seniors are just a few ways that SARAH GIBBS, vice president of development at the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina, serves her community day in and day out.

“I had a lot of great memories swimming and playing sports at the Y with my friends and family,” she says. “As I got older, I was really involved in my church’s youth ministry and attended many camp retreats up at YMCA Camp Hanes.”

When she was a kid the Brace Family YMCA in Charlotte opened a new outdoor pool and water park. She and her sister learned to swim there, and they enrolled in the after-school care program a couple of years later when their mother went back to nursing school.  

At the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Gibbs majored in business administration and minored in psychology, was active with her sorority (Alpha Xi Delta) and various campus clubs, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do post-graduation until hearing about a part-time resource development assistant position at the Wilmington Family YMCA.

“I honestly tell people that it was a ‘God thing’ that led me to the YMCA,” she says. “I think the Y speaks to everything I’m passionate about: healthy living, youth development, and community involvement.”

After college, she led the YMCA’s marketing and communications efforts before being asked to temporarily manage developmental efforts. Now, she oversees a talented team dedicated to the organization’s development, marketing, and communications. 

“The Y does so many different things for so many different people, so there is quite literally always something to share and promote to the communities that we serve,” she says.

In the last decade, Gibbs has watched the regional Y association grow to feature three membership facilities, a residential camp, and dozens of child care and youth program sites – all with an operating budget of $15 million. In 2015, she was involved in rebuilding the Market Street Nir Family YMCA after an accidental fire, and in the wake of Hurricane Florence, the YMCA offered free child care to families in the area. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the YMCA also delivered lunches to students, facilitated remote learning and tutoring while schools were closed due to COVID, and offered virtual exercise programs for seniors.

Last year, the organization purchased 709 George Anderson Drive. The Y had run this facility for seven years already, as it started renting space at the Temple Baptist Church’s activity center in 2015. A few years later, the Y began operating the entire activity center; currently, the Midtown YMCA location serves about 1,200 members and a couple hundred children and teens through child care and sports programs. 

“The Midtown YMCA is our smallest branch, but one of the busiest,” Gibbs says. “We know that the Midtown YMCA could serve thousands more children, adults, and seniors if we were to expand this facility to offer more opportunities for residents to exercise, swim, play sports, and connect with one another. This is something the Y is looking to address with the support of our community and elected officials.” 

With that goal as her guide, a lot of Gibbs’s work involves coordinating with volunteers, donors, and community partners to identify, prioritize, and meet the wellness and recreational needs of Southeastern North Carolina’s residents of all ages and backgrounds. Recently, she says that she’s been in contact with the CEO and board of directors to formulate solid strategies for expanding the Y’s capacity to provide affordable child care, safe recreational spaces.

“A healthy YMCA makes for a healthy community,” she says, “and because we reach so many people in so many different ways, I really do believe that we need to continue to position the YMCA to grow alongside our community.”

To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.

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