Manatee YMCA sets 2016 fundraising goal of $512,450 at annual kickoff breakfast

BRADENTON -- Jorge Gomez, 17, fought all his life to stay out of gangs near Pride Park.

Pastor Jerry Parrish, the youth-at-risk director at the YMCA, told a crowd of about 200 people Thursday morning he remembered driving Gomez home in third grade, when a boy who looked 18 told Gomez to get out of the car.

"He was in third grade, and he got out of the car to fight an 18-year-old," Parrish said. "That told me what Jorge was going through every day."

Gomez told the crowd he wanted to be a mechanic, and he knew he had to stay out of the gang culture around his neighborhood to have a good future.

"Jerry tells me right from wrong, and who I should hang out with and who I shouldn't," Gomez said.

The crowd gathered at the Renaissance on 9th for the YMCA's annual Campaign Kickoff Breakfast listened to a half-dozen people describe how YMCA programs affected their lives in a positive way.

Sean Allison, president of the Manatee YMCA, said the fundraising goal for 2016 is $512,450. While recognizing it is a significant sum, Allison said it is a necessary cause.

"We want to impact more, particularly the neediest in Manatee County," Allison said. "No one is denied from our facilities due to inability to pay. Because of that, our needs grow."

The breakfast began with a commercial, which showed young men getting into fights in run-down areas.

"Give idle hands something to do, a purpose, and they're capable of amazing things," the commercial concludes.

In addition to Gomez, other speakers testified to ways YMCA programs helped them. Stories ranged from lighthearted tales of weight loss and better health from Pam Weigart, to eighth-graders praising an after-school program for helping with homework and everyday problems, to Cory Snell's

story of his partner dying about a year ago, and how classes at the Y helped him move forward.

"I was devastated. I was broken. I didn't know what to do," Snell said. "I kind of wish I went with her, or that I had gone instead of her. But God doesn't take those requests."

Snell said he originally joined the Y when his wife, Laura, broke her legs in 2014. She loved going in the water, but when it got cold at the beach she needed a pool. The Y had a wheelchair lift and lifeguards to help her get in and out, Snell said, which made a huge difference.

"If they didn't have that lift I wouldn't have been able to get her in and out of the pool," Snell said.

After her death, people at the Y helped him deal with the loss. He couldn't find programs to quite fit him, and then a friend at the water class pushed him to try other classes as well.

"She talked me into Zumba, which was pretty rough," Snell said, prompting laughs.

He underwent multiple back surgeries and said fitness classes at the YMCA helped him get back into shape. Now he hopes to get back to work, and told Allison in front of the crowd he had applied for a part-time job at the Y.

"You're hired," Allison said, prompting claps and cheers. "I think I'll put you in sales."

Leslie Gladfelter, on the YMCA Board of Directors, said pledges had already raised about 20 percent of the 2016 goal. She encouraged attendees to reach out to the people they know to make sure the Y can continue to provide programs to those who need it.

"We couldn't do it without contributions from people like you," Gladfelter said.

Kate Irby, Herald online/political reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7055. You can follow her on Twitter @KateIrby

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Manatee YMCA sets 2016 fundraising goal of $512,450 at annual kickoff breakfast ."