Competing for Funds at YMCA

I must respond to the article (“Resignation Was Prompted by Exposure Threat,” Dec. 21) about myself and my 13 years of service to the Newport-Costa Mesa YMCA.

A key statement by David Smith, who was the treasurer of the YMCA at the time of my departure, was left out of the article. Smith said that most of that $1.6 million would be the result of the failed capital campaign, a lot of which happened after I resigned as executive director.

The often-quoted Sterling Wolfe, now Newport-Costa Mesa YMCA board president, was a member of the board of directors at the time the board decided to hire the fund-raiser, when the board authorized the construction loan, when the board activated the construction loan. Mr. Wolfe was one of 21 people involved in making those decisions.

Neither I nor the board of directors were great fund-raisers. As executive director, I was a good manager of the YMCA. We had an excellent staff, a wide and diverse program base which included child care, family counseling, parent-child club programs, programs for seniors and the handicapped, corporate fitness programs and lots of community involvement.

By some people’s standards, every President of the United States, from Roosevelt to Bush, could not serve as president of the Newport-Mesa school board because they left a job with a deficit--which may or may not have been created by their sole action, but rather with the help of Congress, the economy, etc.

The YMCA problem, then as it is now, is that it is competing for charitable contributions with UCI, the Performing Arts Center and Hoag Hospital to name only a few.

The Newport-Costa Mesa YMCA needs community support today more than ever.

JIM de BOOM

Newport Beach