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By Jim Buice

For the Clemmons Courier

How can Gina Daugherty, the executive director of the Jerry Long  Family YMCA, possibly explain the overwhelming success of the Clemmons facility, which has a current membership of 16,510? 

That’s more than many towns.

“It’s crazy,” said Daugherty, who has been in this position for the last year and a part of the YMCA of Northwest N.C. for 24 years. “I think that we just have something for everybody. We have our little kids that come here. Then we have our active older adults, just a huge crowd. Then there’s families, single adults, so it’s the whole spectrum.”

Daugherty knows about memberships in her career at the YMCA, serving in several of the 14 branches in that role, including being in Clemmons in 2016 until COVID hit in 2020 before taking on an overall “association role” when the various Y’s started to reopen.

“I was the overall association member experience director,” she said. “It was really cool. I got to travel around and meet a lot of people. I’ve met so many people over the years, but I always knew I was a branch girl. I think people really like that stability. So when I came back, it was very well received into this role.”

Of course, the number of members in Clemmons and throughout the association dipped following the closures, but the numbers have rebounded since that.

In fact, the Jerry Long YMCA has more members than ever now and is more than 5,000 ahead of the William G. White YMCA (11,180) and the Robinhood YMCA (10,141), which are both located in Winston-Salem.

Daugherty said that the group exercise classes for adults are probably the most popular among the programs, and the Silver Sneakers class is a big hit along with chair yoga options.

Plus, there’s pickleball, “which is all the rage now,” she said. “We have a huge crowd here. We do have play Monday through Friday for certain hours of the day in our gym, and then we do have clinics available and one-on-one training for people to learn how to play.”

The most recent large addition at the Jerry Long YMCA was the new pool in July 2019.

“Now that we have two pools, it’s hard to remember us having one pool,” Daugherty said. “It is used so heavily with water fitness. We call that our program pool. We have slides in there, so the swim lesson kids, all of our swim lessons are in there, private and group and then there are water fitness classes in there. 

“So that pool is warmer than our lap pool. Now we call the other pool our lap pool. And people swim laps, and our swim teams are in there, too.”

Is there anything new on the drawing board for the largest YMCA in the association?

“Nothing is set in stone that I can mention right now, but we are looking to replace and improve our playground,” Daugherty said. “So that’s up and coming. And we’re hopeful for this year to get that in place. We would be relocating that from the front to the back where our sports are. That’s kind of our next bigger project.”

The YMCA is currently in the midst of its annual impact fund campaign with a goal of $266,000.

“All dollars we raise stay here and go back into our programs,” Daugherty said. “Members, local businesses, board members and staff really go all in to giving back, with funding going to larger programs such as Live Strong, Warrior Sports Program, Literacy Program and Bright Beginnings.”

The 2024 Annual Impact Goal had a branch goal of $240,000 — with the branch raising $268,332 — and the branch ultimately being awarded $293,063.

Some of the highlights from last year’s impact for the Jerry Long YMCA included:

• Before and After School Academy: Served 348 participants in the Before and After School programs and distributed $61,556 in financial scholarships
• Bright Beginnings: 75 students in the Clemmons community were provided new school supplies and clothing through the program with a total cost of $10,500 and 85 volunteers who played an important role
• Financial scholarships: Awarded $180,100 in financial scholarships
• YMCA Camp Hanes: 2,488 youth were served in the overnight camp and day camp programs with $235,984 in financial assistance
• Swim lessons: Served 1,609 kids in the swim lesson program and provided $655 in financial assistance
• Safety Around Water (Saw): Had 33 participants in a program that provides swim instruction in water safety to children from underserved communities at no cost.
• Volunteers: 463 volunteers on hand for 6,223 hours supported the YMCA and the local community
• Youth sports: 4,115 kids in various sports programs were awarded $4,352 in financial assistance
• Reaching Our Potential: Served 50 kids from the Clemmons community in the Teen Referral Membership program — 741 teens across the association are enrolled in this program for at-risk teens

Based on these programs and many others, there are various opportunities for community members to give in general or to specific initiatives to help make a difference.

Daugherty, who grew up in the Stanleyville/Rural Hall area, graduated from college at UNC-Greensboro when she first started working at the YMCA. She and her husband, Justin, live just down the road in Davie County and have two children, Mia and Max.

After the early introduction to the YMCA, Daugherty admits it has always been the thing that has stayed with her, adding it has truly been like family.

“When I came back, I said this is my home,” she said. “I want to retire here, but you never know what happens. But I hope to be here for a really long time and make a lot of impact in the community and hopefully people can get to know me as the face of Jerry Long.”