Buses will bring city children to Y

Officials detail Gloversville summer program

By KAYLEIGH KARUTIS, The Leader-Herald

GLOVERSVILLE - With the city's summer recreation program beginning at the Fulton County YMCA next week, officials there said they want children and parents to understand how to participate.

The program will begin Monday and last until Aug. 7. Most of the programming is limited to children between the ages of 6 and 14. There will be five hours per week of family activities when all ages are invited.

The Common Council approved spending $11,000 for the program at a meeting last week, favoring it over a swim program at the Gloversville Middle School that was conducted last summer and cost the city about the same amount.

YMCA Chief Executive Officer Steven Serge said the program at the YMCA will offer participants a variety of activities including swimming, sports, games and arts and crafts.

Children who want to participate must fill out an orange registration form and have it with them when they arrive at the YMCA or board a city bus to the Harrison Street facility. Serge said children must live in the city to participate in the program.

Registration forms can be picked up at the YMCA, the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce & Industry, City Hall and the city Transit Department. A city bus will leave the Transit Department on West Fulton Street at 10:45 a.m. and travel to a pick-up stop at the intersection of Fulton and Main streets and then go to the YMCA. A return bus will take children from the YMCA back to the four corners and then on to the Transit Department at around 2:30 p.m.

Serge said children will only be allowed to leave the Y on the city bus or with a parent or guardian. Children may arrive at the facility at any time during the program and can participate as often or as seldom as they wish, as long as they complete a registration form.

Serge said the YMCA is hiring additional support staff for the program, but it is unclear how many more employees will be needed because enrollment is uncertain.

Family activities will be offered in the game room Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Fridays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and family swim times will be Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30 to 9 p.m. and Fridays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Transit Manager Al Schutz said children who leave from the Transit Department will be supervised. At the end of the program, the department will evaluate how well the bus route worked and the cost of it, he said.

"I don't think it will be a big strain," Schutz said. "We'll do what we have to do for the kids. I hope we can continue to have recreation in the future, wherever it may be."

Second Ward Councilman John Castiglione, who supported keeping the program at the middle school, said he hopes participation in the YMCA program is high, but isn't sure it will be.

"The numbers won't be like they were with the swim program [at the middle school] because everybody could go [to the middle school program]," he said. "At the YMCA, they're limited."

Castiglione said he is concerned the bus run and the supervision of the children at the transit department will cost the city additional money.

"I think it's a mistake [to pay for the YMCA program] when we had a good program [at the middle school] that everybody could participate in," he said.

Kayleigh Karutis covers Gloversville news. She can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com