Facility Operating Hours:

• Monday – Thursday 5:30am – 9:00pm
• Friday 5:30am 7:00pm
• Saturday 7:00am 5:00pm
• Sunday 1:00pm 5:00pm

Pool Operating Hours:

• Monday Thursday 5:30am 7:30pm
• Friday 5:30am 6:00pm
• Saturday 8:00am 3:00pm
• Sunday 1:00pm 4:30pm

History of Our YMCA

Pooling Our Resources
Georgetown County, an area with five rivers, a bay and an oceanfront, struggled with the need for community swimming facilities and other youth and family recreational facilities for years.  It had been evident that too many children and adults drowned in the county’s waters and too many health and wellness concerns arose too early in life.  The Georgetown County Family YMCA—serving a region from Andrews to the west, Plantersville and Pleasant Hill to the north, oceanfront communities to the east, and Maryville and North Santee to the south­—proposed to resolve that struggle by building a YMCA for improved and expanded aquatics programming sorely needed in the community.  This exciting, new community asset was estimated to cost between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000 and would be funded with private donations, public and private grants, and inkind contributions. 

By pooling the resources of the community, the YMCA, and the families we serve, the Georgetown County Family YMCA began to position itself to build the facility longneeded by more than 56,000 underserved residents in our county.  We remain committed to fulfilling our mission “to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build the healthy spirit, mind and body for all.” 

Perseverance, and Moving Ahead
Feeling frustrated with the historical lack of progress in meeting community service needs, county residents joined together to take action.  The Citizens for Family Activities Centers (CFAC) was created to address the need for public swimming pools in the coastal community.  The group met over the course of two years and contracted with consultants to help narrow the focus of its goals and objectives.  The concept of a local YMCA was born, and, with the support of The YMCA of Coastal Carolina and the YMCA of the USA, the group initiated steps toward becoming a branch of the YMCA.

People throughout our community soon realized that a YMCA could provide vitally important health and human services so that families and youth in Georgetown County would have the recreational resources they wanted, needed, and deserved.  Fortunately, the YMCA has developed, as its core mission, “programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.”  We build strong kids, strong families, and strong communities—worldwide and for more than 150 years—all in a day’s work.  The YMCA was, therefore, a natural choice to step into the role that the public sector and individual communities have been unable to fill and forge ahead with construction of a stateoftheart community services and recreational facility.

The Georgetown County Family YMCA was officially formed in July 2004 to serve youth, families, seniors, and singles through various programs that build community and enhance the lives of each person involved.  The Y is led by energetic and passionate community volunteers who recognize the need for programs and services for all—especially our youth and families.  The Board of Managers and our YMCA professional staff believe strongly in providing inclusive services and are committed to practicing nondiscrimination.

While the Georgetown County Family YMCA was and remains generously supported by community partners who provide program sites, the need for an appropriate central facility was truly critical.  To ensure a level of comfort and a true sense of belonging, a YMCA facility would cross the barriers of distance, subcommunities and socioeconomic status.  A centralized YMCA operating with coordinated outreach programs would enable all our friends and neighbors abundant opportunities to become involved in programs that promote a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. 

A YMCA is important to any community.  The Georgetown County Family YMCA is a very important asset and already has created a history of achievement.  To help build a stronger community, the Georgetown Y has adopted and practices the YMCA’s five beliefs which are:

• to teach the values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility;
• to focus on all participants as members, creating relationships, belonging, and involvement in the YMCA;
• to strengthen kids, providing them the support and experiences they need to become healthy, caring, and competent adults;
• to strengthen, engage, and support families;
• and to create connections and common purpose among members through leadership and collaboration in the community development process.

Georgetown Branch Grows from Strong Roots
No organization in the world matches the history, service, record of accomplishment, or reputation of the YMCA in building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities.  For more than 150 years the YMCA has delivered high quality programs to families—from the largest child care/day care program in the United States to the nation’s premier recreational aquatics program. 

The YMCA meant more than just a gym or a pool to generations of young people, adults, and seniors.  It had been the social center, the gathering place, and the safe harbor, building strong communities out of the families that live in those communities.  It has been a source of accomplishment, pride, and inspiration—inculcating the values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility in young people through careful adult supervision and mentoring.

The need for quality family programs—programs that enhance family values and provide opportunities for positive growth­—was desperate in Georgetown County.

Enhanced Quality of Life
Residents are open and vocal on the matter—no community pool, no public resources to secure one, and yet a need that has been felt for many years.  The conspicuous absence of a fullservice YMCA was a qualityoflife issue for the residents of Georgetown County. 

Many communities are defined as communities by a local YMCA, and the Georgetown County Family YMCA would serve as the epicenter of the community. With 32 combined acres donated to the YMCA, it would be centered a short drive from the extremes of its 800squaremile service area, and operate additional Program Sites in Andrews, Plantersville, and the Waccamaw Neck that placed YMCA programs within the preferred 12minute drive.

Return on the Philanthropic Investment
Answering the needs of the Georgetown County community required a carefully designed facility.  The natatorium meets a need felt by residents for decades.  Recreational swimming, fitness swimming, and swimming lessons for children and adults can all finally be delivered by the foremost community recreational organization in the US—the YMCA.  Our inclusive recreational center welcomes all races, creeds, ages and abilities from accomplished competitors to special needs.

Combine the popular aquatics programs with a professionally managed child watch center, a fullservice fitness center and aerobics room, sauna and spacious locker facilities, and the people of Georgetown County—from the Pee Dee River to the Santee River and from the Atlantic coast along the Black River to our west—all have a convenient and cheery place to keep fit and come together as a community.

A recreational facility so easily accessible to families, business people, and young people represents a dramatic improvement to the quality of life in the region.  These kinds of community amenities make the area a preferred residential location for the kinds of familyconscious, professional working people that county economic development efforts have targeted. 

Pooling Our Resources
By working together, leaders in the Georgetown County community made this communitydefining facility a vibrant reality.

The support of the community we serve was essential for the dream of a family center focused on wellness, aquatics and recreation is to materialize.  Together, we raised nearly $6 million in pledges to construct the new facility, sending the message that this time, finally, the community center that Georgetown County has wished for would happen.  

Facilities & Equipment:

• Indoor, heated 6 lane competition pool and recreation zone
• Stateoftheart strength training equipment (free weights and cable assist)
• Variety of cardiovascular equipment, to include: treadmills, bikes (recumbent and upright), stair climbers, elliptical cross trainers, and tread wall
• Large selection of free weight equipment
• Group Exercise & Cycling Studio
• Sauna
• Women’s, Men’s and Family Locker Rooms

Membership Amenities:

• Fitness Orientation
• Group exercise classes to include cycling, Zumba, muscle sculpting, core strength and a variety of both land and water aerobics
• Member lounge
• Onsite ChildWatch for family memberships
• Health Education lectures
• Member socials
• Discounts and priority registration on all YMCA programs

Programs:

• Youth and adult sports leagues and camps
• Kid’s summer camp and afterschool program
• Swimming Lessons
• Birthday parties
• Specialty wellness and fitness classes

Parking Lot, Children & Pets
For safety of all parties, no child under the age of 13 should be left unattended in any area of the YMCA, to include the parking lots. While every effort will be made to locate the parents, the Georgetown County Sherriff’s Office will be notified immediately of any unattended children discovered in a vehicle.

We love our pets, too. But, for the safety of our members and guests as well as the pets, please do not bring them to YMCA campus. There is no place to keep them safe and comfortable and it is a DHEC regulation that they not enter the facility. Guide dogs and service dogs are permitted.

Leaving pets unattended in vehicles or in the parking lot is forbidden on YMCA campus.

Program or Class Registration
Registration and payment for special lessons, programs or classes are handled at the Welcome Center. Members are encouraged to utilize computers at the Welcome Center to register for classes on their own once they become comfortable with the system.

YMCA Pro Shop
There are a variety of items available for purchase at the Welcome Center. Items available include apparel, workout, and health related devices. Please see the Welcome Center to purchase.