New Aquatic Center Grand Opening!

July 17, 2019 | The Villager | Reading Time 2:00 Minutes

Grand Opening Speech from Executive Director, Betsy Bale

It is my sincere pleasure to welcome you to the Ribbon Cutting ceremony for the new Village Aquatic Center. As you can clearly see, it is an exhiliaring and exciting time at Friendship Village!

Today’s ceremony highlights, and is a reminder of one of our 8 Dimensions of Wellness… to inspire health and wellness among all of our residents.

This is made possible in part by our unwavering commitment to providing the highest quality programming for our residents. This new Aquatic Center is a bold reflection of that commitment. For many of you here today, this moment has been a very long time in coming. Our Board identified adding an exercise pool over 15 years ago as an important and strategic direction. The design phase began some four years ago. And now, here we stand, at the door of a new 4,000 square foot Aquatic Center that will bring many, many years of fitness and fun to our residents and families.

Thank you for your steadfast belief in our mission!

Thank you to all of the investors in the Aquatic Center campaign for your philanthropic leadership and generosity. You are officially part of Friendship Village’s history, and you helped make it happen.

Reaching a major milestone like this can only be achieved through incredible teamwork. I am honored to work alongside some of the best in the business and want to publicly acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our Board of Directors. I would also like to thank our incredible Friendship Village staff for their extraordinary efforts through this journey and particularly the past couple of weeks to get these spaces ready for today!

I must also express my deep appreciation and sincere gratitude to our partners on this project. Todd McDonald and Jason Meek with CSM Group, Andy McLeod and his team with GMB Architect, and Nancy Turtle and Justin Horn at Mercantile Bank. Thank you for bringing our vision to life!

I would like to invite the following to join me at the ribbon:

Todd McDonald, Board Chair

Cheryl Strickland, Director of Operations Management, Life Care Services

Ken Greschak, Director of Fund Development

Brandon Pierce, Director of Facility Services

Lindsay Knox, Assistant Director, Active Aging at National Institute for Fitness and Sport

Nancy Turtle and Justin Horn, Mercantile Bank