Knowing that ABC Wednesday would trump a Fourth of July photo, we have been posting Fourth of July photos this past week. Plus, we should have one for you tomorrow. However, TODAY, we’re bringing you a photo of the Hayes-Taylor YMCA, located at 1101 East Market Street. The Hayes-Taylor Y is the oldest Y building in the city, dating back to 1939. The facility was built with 50 thousand dollars donated by Ceasar Cone and $50 thousand raised in the community, to match his contribution.*

As you can see from the red building to the left, the Y is landlocked. It needs to expand, but NCA&T University is all around the facility. The Hayes-Taylor has just cleared a zoning hurdle for opening a facility down the road at Barber Park.  In addition to a larger building, they want to expand services, including adding athletic fields, increase parking, and double capacity for people working out. 

The next hurdle for the new Y facility would be to secure 7 million in funding, which, if you think about it, is a nano-drop-in-the-bucket when you consider The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering & Gateway Gardens projects cost over 64 million dollars. At any rate, even without a one-man benefactor like Ceasar Cone, Greensboro will find a way to get this new Y built. As a community, we’re like that. We find a way to realize our dreams.  Today is Wednesday and Y is for the Hayes-Taylor YMCA, the Y in our 2012 series on A-Z worthy causes and noteworthy issues of Greensboro.

*reference.