Dear Editor:

I feel compelled to share my thoughts on the “reorganization” that is occurring at the YMCA. At the 11th hour on January 13, the executive director addressed my aerobics class saying that the position of Wellness Director will be eliminated at the end of this session (mid-February) and therefore my aerobics teacher, Mary Baudo, the Wellness Director of the Wellness Program, will be finished as well.

Whatever the problems at the Y, elimination of the Wellness Director position is blatantly not the answer, nor is the letting-go of Mary Baudo. Wellness is the cornerstone of every YMCA. Mary exemplifies the principles upon which the YMCA was founded. She encourages wellness among her class members with a professional yet friendly demeanor. She keeps us coming back.

It is my understanding that Mary does not wish to leave and that, as of this writing, nobody has been hired to replace her as coach of our class.

Many of us wrote letters to the YMCA board of trustees prior to its meeting on January 22, imploring them to revisit this decision. In response to our letters, we received a patronizing reply saying, in part, “we realize that changes may be difficult to understand.”

Difficult indeed. We have a thoroughly professional and effective Wellness Director, a credit to the Y, who wants to stay. We have nobody hired to take over her classes. Yet, we will let her go because the decision to “reorganize” and eliminate the Wellness Director position was “started in the fall of 2013.” Why was this decision made in the first place? Why did it take so many months to come to the surface?

Simply put, this is a bad decision. Responsible management admits mistakes and corrects them. Almost nothing in this world is so set in cement that it can’t be RE-"reorganized”. But we are told it is final.

We will say a sad farewell to Mary Baudo, give her cards and hugs and leave her out in the cold to find another job.

There will be no more Wellness Director of the Wellness Program?

Why?

The Wellness Director is the last person who should be leaving the Y.

Helen Heidi Larsen
Boothbay