The Rec: For Our Youth

LEGACY Summer 2025 — Harleigh Kennedy arrived at the Rec Center before the YMCA Teen Leaders Club meeting so that she could work on her art. Today, she was making a heart in iron beadwork. The art studio’s shelves were full of supplies for Kennedy and other teens to use at their leisure, no need for an adult to provide permission or direction. Kennedy comes to the Rec Center in downtown Marion a couple of times each week. “I love it! It’s an amazing place and teens can be together or alone,” she said.

Kennedy, a sophomore at Elgin High School, is one of the many Marion County teens and pre-teens who have visited The Rec and Resource Center since it opened in March. The Rec, as it’s called, is a partnership of the Marion Family YMCA, City of Marion, and Marion City Schools. A $109,000 Marion Community Foundation grant helped update the old recreation building on Church Street to create an attractive, comfortable and safe environment for teens and pre-teens.

The Rec is exclusively for students in grades 6-12. YMCA staff are present for supervision and, more importantly, to build positive relationships with the young visitors. Marion Police Department’s MPACT Coordinator, Officer Caleb Rector, has his office in The Rec. He is glad to see the partnership and says Marion has needed something like this for a long time.

The YMCA Teen Leaders Club helped design the space and choose the equipment and furnishings. And, they provided elbow grease to get the space ready. About 30 of the Club’s 74 members made sandwiches for Marion’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Truck at a recent meeting, which included planning for a basketball tournament.

YMCA Senior Program Director, Andrew Grimes, is looking forward to a busy summer at The Rec. Summer hours are weekdays 11am–8pm. Programs will include e-sports tournaments, Claymation Film Camp, and Teen Skills Group.

Another regular at The Rec is Grant Middle School student Matthew Hawkins. He attends nearly every day, walking after school from Grant, then walking home a few hours later. Hawkins spends his time at The Rec practicing for the Cops and Teens Basketball Tournament or upstairs in the tech lab where he enjoys gaming with other teens.

Marion Community Foundation thanks our donors for their generosity that helped transform an underutilized building into The Rec. A 2024 Community Grant awarded to the Marion Family YMCA from the Robert M. & Dorothy C. Wopat Community Fund supports this project. It is one of a dozen Community Grants (nearly 40 percent) awarded in the fall of 2024 focused on children and youth in the Marion area.

Footer