Twenty-seven months after the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept across Westchester County, devastating the Rye YMCA’s first floor pools, childcare classrooms, boilers, and mechanical equipment, Y leaders and guests cut the ribbon on a new rooftop mechanical room. The 900-square-foot “boiler house” will shelter the Y’s two boilers and most of the mechanical and electrical panels from future flooding. 

The long-awaited ceremony was held December 5 on the Y’s flat roof. Speakers included Rye Y CEO Sabrina Murphy; board president John Weber; Irvin Peters, FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Task Force Lead; and Christopher Hanse, Hudson Valley Regional Director for Senator Charles Schumer. 

In her remarks, Murphy thanked the many people who transformed the project from concept to reality, including the Y’s board of directors; staff; architects from Crozier-Gedney; general contractor Robbie Howard; the hard-working subcontractors; Luke Powell from Senator Schumer’s office; FEMA team members Irvin Peters and Daniela Heppard; and James Bukowski and Sarah Taegder from the NYS Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES). The project is being funded by FEMA (90%) and DHSES (10%).  

“We’re so grateful for all of the support we’ve received,” Murphy later said. “This project is a significant step toward a more sustainable future for the Rye Y. We’re making our building resilient for the working families who rely on us to be open for childcare; for the seniors who stay active and connected by taking water aquatics classes; for the cancer survivors who participate in our LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program, and for so many more. Our community depends on the Y, and we need to weather every storm for it.”