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The Albert Lea Family Y is in the middle of a six-week fundraising campaign with a goal of collecting $60,000. 

April Jeppson, community and marketing director at the YMCA, said the organization used to have what it called an annual sustaining campaign that ran all year. The campaign supported all facets of the Y, including scholarship programs for youth and family memberships, as well as the general workings of the organization. 

This year, instead of having the year-long sustaining campaign, it is conducting a six-week support effort to raise $60,000. The organization also hopes to use the campaign as a time to get the word out about the value the organization brings to Albert Lea. 

Bruce Mielke, interim executive director, said the campaign centers around a $30,000 donation from Mayo Foundation’s Charitable Giving Fund and then raising an additional $30,000 from members, other area foundations and local and regional businesses. 

The campaign started Feb. 14 and runs through the end of March.

Aside from the Mayo portion, about $5,000 of the remaining $30,000 has been raised, Mielke said. 

Jeppson said for the first two weeks of the campaign, staff put hearts up behind the front desk with people’s names on them every time they donated. 

They have also mailed out fliers to people seeking support. 

This week, they started their own internal March Madness at the Y for members, what Jeppson described as a fun way to get people to realize all the different things that take place at the organization. 

They will close out the support campaign with a member appreciation week, and a silent auction and bake sale is slated for March 21 through 25. 

She said they are still looking for items for the silent auction and bake sale and noted that both will also be open to the public to come check out. 

“We want to get people in here,” she said. “We want to get people talking about the Y.” 

She is also collecting “Y stories” about how people started coming to the Y and how it has impacted them. 

“Everybody’s story is different,” she said, noting that some people might have started coming for rehabilitation after surgery, while others might have started coming with their child. 

Jeppson said the Y is busy with activity, whether it’s from middle school children who come after school, seniors who come to utilize classes in the pool, parents who bring their children for swimming lessons or people who come to exercise. 

The Y gives out free memberships to all children in fifth through eighth grades and provides financial assistance on memberships to others in need. 

“Nobody is turned away,” she said. 

The organization also provides summer camps, has programs for children to take part in on days off of school, runs the Nutrition Assistance Program for Seniors, and offers first aid, CPR and lifeguard training classes. 

Jeppson said the organization before the pandemic hosted the Livestrong program and a diabetes prevention program, which it hopes to eventually bring back, along with the Fountain Lake 5, a 5k run. 

In the last year it also partnered with the city of Albert Lea to start management of day-to-day operations at the Senior Center at Skyline Plaza for seniors 55 and older. 

“We need people to hear that we’re here, and we do a lot of good in the community,” she said. 

The Albert Lea Family Y, at 2021 W. Main St., can be reached at 377-4350.