The Sarasota Family YMCA has announced that its board has voted to agree in principle to the offer provided by Dreamers Academy, Save Our Y and Project Stoked to keep both the Berlin and Evalyn Sadlier Jones fitness centers open beyond the previously announced date of September 13, 2019.

The deal not only keeps both Sarasota YMCA fitness facilities open, but also aligns the shared mission of all four organizations: effecting positive social impact, nurturing children and improving the community’s health and well-being for generations to come. Details of the plan will be announced in the next few days, but include keeping both the Frank G. Berlin on Euclid Avenue and Evalyn Sadlier Jones on Potter Park Drive fitness centers open, improving the facilities, and retaining employees and members. The new organization has been named “The Sarasota Y” to differentiate it from the Sarasota Family YMCA; it will have a transitional board composed of Charlie Campbell, Anya Adams, Thomas Chaffee, Ryan McDonald and Marc Schaefer. Jim Purdy, the former COO of the Sarasota Family YMCA, has been tapped as interim president.

“Where there is a will, there is a Y,” Adams says.