At the Cranberry YMCA Carrie Fox wants everyone to find a place to belong

Carrie Fox took a part-time job at the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA because she wanted to keep working out.

She was leaving a full-time sales job to pursue an MBA and wondered how she would afford her membership. A former high school classmate who worked at the Y offered a suggestion: Employees received a free membership.

Fox joined the staff. What began as a practical decision became a career.

“About six months into it, I fell in love with everything the Y was all about,” she said.

In September, Fox marked 19 years at the Cranberry Township branch. Now its executive director, she wants neighbors to understand what she discovered early in her time there: The YMCA’s work reaches well beyond exercise.

For children, that may mean a chance to try a sport and make a friend. For parents, it may mean child care that allows them to work. For an older adult, it may mean a familiar group of people who notice when someone misses a class.

“We want to be that third place,” Fox said.

That sense of belonging starts early in the Y’s youth sports programs. Fox said preschool offerings begin at age 3, with opportunities to sample different sports or focus on activities such as basketball and soccer.

In a region where school athletics can be highly competitive, she sees a role for programs that let children explore an interest without the pressure of making a team.

Some families, she said, simply want their child to try something new. The goal is to introduce sports in an encouraging environment while helping children become comfortable with one another.

“Our big thing is fostering friendships,” Fox said.

She hears concerns about making friends from elementary and middle school children, and recognizes those worries from her own experience as a parent. Staff members introduce children, pair them for activities and create opportunities to get to know one another.

That approach carries into summer camp, which Fox said serves more than 600 children at the branch each summer.

Access is another part of the mission. Fox said the YMCA raises money to help offset membership and program costs for local families, with funds raised through its Butler County association staying in the county.

“What people forget is that we’re a charity,” she said.

Families can apply for financial assistance. Fox said staff consider circumstances beyond income alone, including medical bills or the responsibility of caring for additional people in a household.

“Sometimes people on paper, they look like they can afford it,” she said. “There’s other circumstances than just what’s on paper.”

The branch also provides childcare for about 50 children and a separate preschool program serving about 80, according to Fox. Family activities give parents, grandparents and children opportunities to spend time together.

For older adults, the connections can be just as important as the workout. Alongside exercise and aquatic classes, the Y offers social activities, card games, mahjong and speakers on a range of topics.

Fox remembers a member who came in at 5:30 a.m. when she worked at the front desk 19 years ago. After retiring, he continued coming at the same time because of the people he knew there.

“You build these small communities within a community,” she said.

Those relationships extend beyond the building. Fox described members meeting for coffee or lunch and parents arranging play dates after getting to know one another in exercise classes.

The Y also has a care and comfort committee that sends cards and small care packages when staff learn of an illness, surgery or other significant event in a member’s life.

The branch has more than 11,000 members and records about 39,000 visits a month, Fox said. Its daily rhythm changes as people arrive before work, parents use child watch while exercising, older adults attend classes and children come in after school.

For Fox, conversations with those members are among the most rewarding parts of the job. Walking through the building can turn into a half-hour visit or longer as she stops to talk.

She enjoys seeing people accomplish something, whether it is a staff member developing a program or a member finding a new friend.

For someone who has never visited, she recognizes that walking into an unfamiliar fitness facility can feel intimidating. Her invitation is simple.

“We want you to feel like family here,” Fox said, “and that’s how we treat you.”