Board Votes Tonight on Fate of New Westport Y

WESTPORT, Conn. – A decision on whether the Westport Weston Family Y moves forward with plans for a new facility on its Mahackeno campus will be made Monday night by the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors, Family Y CEO Rob Reeves said Monday afternoon.

“I certainly feel positive about it,” said Reeves, noting he doesn’t have a vote in the matter. “We didn’t raise all of the money, but we raised a lot of it. We’ve received over 100 gifts since the March announcement and hopefully the boards will see that as positive momentum.”

In March, Reeves announced that the Y still needed to raise a significant portion of $6 million to move forward with the project. If significant funds were not in place by the deadline, which was this past Friday, Reeves had said the Westport and Weston communities risked losing the Y.

Since the announcement, Reeves said, $3.5 million has been raised. “It was a doom and gloom announcement in March, but we weren’t crying wolf,” he said. “In my sincere, honest opinion, I believe if we only raised $1 million since then, the board would vote ‘No.’ ”

If the boards vote to move forward with the project, Reeves said, that does not mean the Y is in the clear. Because not all of the money needed has been raised, fundraising efforts would continue, he said, to keep the project on track.

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