On a hot Tuesday in July, about 20 people gathered for a 10 a.m. chair yoga class in the Fayetteville YMCA’s group exercise room.
The participants, mostly seniors, started to sweat before the class even began as the air conditioner struggled to keep up. A handful of box fans purchased by the class instructor circulated the warm air.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning aren’t the only issues plaguing the Fayetteville YMCA’s 61-year-old building. Out-of-order signs pepper the second-floor women’s locker room, and handwritten notes warn about scalding temperatures in the showers.
Every week, chair yoga participants note a new leak dripping from the ceiling. The basement walls still show a faint waterline from a 2022 flood caused by a broken pool pump.
“It’s sad to see it crumble,” said Laurie, who has been a member of the Fayetteville YMCA for the past nine years and who drives from Autryville to attend chair yoga. She only provided her first name to maintain the anonymity of her complaints. “It’s an amazing place. The teachers, the people who come in, are just fantastic.”
Built in 1964 on Fort Bragg Road, the Fayetteville YMCA’s aging building serves 2,100 members. Like Laurie, many rely on the nonprofit for its free senior services. Others use the Fayetteville YMCA for free and low-cost child care.
However, rising costs to solve the building’s infrastructure issues threaten the Fayetteville YMCA’s ability to deliver services, members told CityView. And the official in charge of the location agrees.
“We’re juggling the priorities of how do we try to keep this operational and how do we try to meet the needs and expectations of members, but still keep the doors open,” said Jeff Darling, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA of the Sandhills, which oversees YMCA facilities in Fayetteville and Cameron, and a child care program in Hope Mills. “It’s a challenge.”
The Fayetteville YMCA’s group exercise room has a spot marked on the floor under a large industrial fan that’s not supposed to be used in the event the fan falls from the ceiling. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityView 
Fayetteville YMCA chair yoga instructor bought fans for the group exercise room since the air conditioning system isn’t keeping the room cool. Credit: Morgan Casey / CtiyView 
Several Fayetteville YMCA members highlighted issues with the facility’s upstairs women’s locker room, including scalding showers. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityView
CityView spoke with 14 YMCA members about their concerns with the building. Almost every member also described the positive role the YMCA community has played in their lives.
“There are so many negative things to say about this building, but not the Y,” said Justin Chase, a Fayetteville YMCA member of three years. “The YMCA is not broken; the building is broken.”
Hard math
Operational costs for the Fayetteville YMCA in 2024 were just over $1.17 million. More than 7%, over $89,000, of those expenses were spent on repairs and maintenance, according to a financial document provided by Darling and reviewed by CityView.
Membership fees and donations should pay for all operational expenses, including repairs, Darling said. However, in 2024, those revenues covered about 58% of the year’s expenses. The Fayetteville YMCA ended the year with over $485,000 in losses.
“If this Y is going to remain a big part of this community, it’s going to require more support from the community,” Darling said. “Because from a business standpoint, every business class I ever took says, ‘Close the door.’ But from a community standpoint and a mission standpoint, everything I see says you can’t close the door because there’s nothing to replace what we’re doing for the people who walk in that door.”
Low revenues in part stem from the membership subsidies the YMCA provides, Darling said. Over 900 members of the Fayetteville YMCA are on insurance memberships, the largest number in the YMCA of the Sandhills, according to Darling. Most health insurances accepted by the Fayetteville YMCA pay for 80% of a person’s membership, and the YMCA supplements the other 20% of the cost.
While accepting insurance payments drastically decreases the Fayetteville YMCA’s membership revenue, Darling said doing so has allowed the nonprofit to serve seniors who would likely not have access to a fitness center and classes.
Bernard Hayes, a senior who joined the Fayetteville YMCA in March, said he hasn’t found the same kind of community through senior centers in Fayetteville.
“That idea of community within the larger community is unique,” Hayes said. “I feel that if we don’t have a place like this, we lose a significant part of the beauty of community.”
Fayetteville YMCA’s after school and summer programs also provide child care for over 100 families for free or at minimal cost, according to Darling. He said he’s uncertain how those families would access child care services without the Fayetteville YMCA, given North Carolina’s shortage of child care providers.
“I don’t know what would step up to replace that,” Darling said. “I would venture to say a large majority of them will end up becoming more of a burden to the county, to the city. And that’s a very crude way of putting it.”
Needing a helping hand
For the first time in five years, the Fayetteville YMCA is increasing its base membership fee. The cost will be $39 a month starting next year — a $5 increase.
“It’s hard for me to stand before a group of members and go, ‘I expect you to pay more,’ since it’s still going to be an old facility. It’s still going to have its challenges,” Darling said. “That’s hard to do, but it’s necessary.”
Gary Leviner has been a member of the YMCA of the Sandhills for 15 years. He started coming to the Fayetteville YMCA after the one in Hope Mills closed in 2023. He said a new building would not only eliminate the repair issues but could also help to bring in new members.
Darling agrees.
“With a new facility, not only are you taking care of the 2,100 members already here, I would almost promise you there will be 2,000 new members that would be a part of it,” Darling said. “Why? It’s new. It’s attractive. But, also what happens is that the new building becomes the carrot to getting people in the doors who then become part of the culture of the Y.”
A new building can’t become a reality without financial support. Fayetteville YMCA members are asking Cumberland County and the City of Fayetteville for help. Several members met with Kirk deViere, chair of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, last week to make their case. Eight members also spoke before the city council on Monday.
Darling and other YMCA of the Sandhills staff are out garnering donations and sponsorships from businesses and community members, and are working to increase membership. The efforts are working, Darling said, but the hole the team is digging itself out of is deep. He expects the Fayetteville YMCA to finish 2025 with about $200,000 in losses.
“To keep the doors open, [the losses have] got to continue to be cut until it becomes a sustainable operation,” he said. “We are committed to keeping this operation going, and the reason why is the people.”
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.