Jumping out of airplanes doesn’t scare Sally DeSmet at all, but joining a gym did, a little, until she visited the Macomb Family YMCA. She was looking for a place to swim, and visited three local gyms with pools, including the Y. She connected immediately with membership director Steve Krankota, and chose the Y despite it not being the closest to her home or the cheapest option. “It was by far the most comfortable,” she says. “It was a no-brainer to join this club.”
Sally had ended a relationship and wanted to make changes in her life. The Y, to her surprise, helped her heal from that as she made new friends and became a familiar face. Five months later, she’s seen major improvements in her health and her whole outlook. She went off blood pressure medications and antidepressants entirely, she says. “Other women here have asked me for exercise advice, because they have seen the change in me,” she says. “At first, coming here was difficult (due to the horrible winter), but I’m feeling like five months later, everything is going in the right direction.”
She’s got big plans when she hits her goal weight, she says. Skydiving, for example, and kiteboarding. But until then, she is enjoying her journey to a more fit and healthy lifestyle. “I am grateful for all the benefits of working out at the Y,” she says. “For so many years I thought fitness wasn’t for me, but the Y makes you comfortable.”
Sally’s story is one of many on the Macomb Y’s story wall, which Steve Krankota started after seeing something similar at a Y in Northern Michigan. It’s a way to connect members with each other and give new members an idea of what the Y is all about, he says. People tell him and other Y staffers all the time how much the Y means to them, and he thought it would be meaningful to get those stories down on paper and displayed where people can see them. “The Y’s amenities are not the machines or the towels,” he says. “It’s the people. The members and the staff here are great.”
Sally agrees that for her, the people make the difference. “it’s the best decision I ever made, for the whole idea of the the Y itself,” she says.