ROME — To celebrate its 40th birthday, Kris-Tech Wire, of Rome, has donated $500,000 toward construction of the new YMCA. Company officials presented the check at a ceremony at Kris-Tech on Otis Street on Wednesday, Aug. 14 — the anniversary of the company’s founding.
“We’re just really honored to be in a position to be able to donate and support our community,” said Graham Brodock, president and CEO of Kris-Tech. “Everybody here, every team member at Kris-Tech, is a part of this gift and it wouldn’t happen without them. So it’s really on behalf of our people to our community, in which so many of our people live with their families, with their friends, with their community members.
” YMCA update According to YMCA CEO Hank Leo, the new building was first announced in 2018 at a potential cost of $16 million, only for it to be waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic shortly thereafter. Leo said the YMCA sustained a huge blow in membership, losing “more than half.” “So the approach we took was to recover our membership first, to make sure that we had a stable ground to be on, and knowing that a move to a new location — and specifically where this location is — would be a huge help,” Leo explained.
They’re looking to build the new YMCA on a 7.1-acre empty lot on upper Floyd Avenue, across from Mohawk Valley Community College. The city of Rome has already begun building the new road that will access the Y.
Leo said they have continued to take in donations .