Thanks and Thoughts

First and for most want to thank Bill Hill for being an amazing individual and an a great friend.  Without him the "W" would have been under water a long, long, long time.  Your dedication and desire for the best in people is and will never been forgotten.  I only hope and dream of working with you again soon...... I also want to thank Barry Bahrman because he was another individual how put the "W" first.  To all those that worked with me and my volleyball program thank you so much for your support and passion.  We are who we are because of the people we surround ourselves with and I am grateful to have had the "W" and everyone in it. I am also very sad for those that will be misplaced because of this selfish decision by the township, but those that don't know what the "W" gave to that area and those that don't have an invested interest in what the "W" truly gave to everyone that came thru that door of course would not understand the devistation that they have caused by shutting those doors. The strong will survive and I know that everyone there will get on their feet.  Good Luck and thank you for 5 amazing years of good people, wonderful memories and great friends.  ~Coach Hruska ARTICATZ VBC

The martial arts class is pretty well known and active. We have 20 kids enrolled in training at the W year round and had more signed up to start this week. We have had students enter in world cup tournament at Lambeau Field in Green bay and have some going to a national tournament in Minneapolis in October.   Black Dragon Martial Arts Instructors/ assistants volunteer their time to provide training to area residents 3 days a week at the "W". Without the support of the staff to allow us to provide training as community service and the great facilities our program would not have survived. The cost of training at a commercial martial art school would have kept some talented youth from having the opportunity to train in a martial art. Without the "W" the students would not have had the opportunity and skills to compete and earn top honors at a World Cup Tournament.   ~Tina Fuller BLACK DRAGON MARTIAL ARTS

 

I would like to thank Bill Hill, Barry Bahrman, and the entire staff at the “W” for making our stay there a great one.  I was looking forward to many years with the “W” being the home to the Gwinn E-Girls.  I also give my best wishes to everyone who had a stake in the “W”.  Tracy Hruska and the Articatz volleyball program, thank you for working with us in the past and hope to work with you again sometime in the future.    I feel for all the youth programs who depended on the “W” for a place to hold their respective activities.  As a program director of a girls 3rd through 6th grade basketball program, I am very saddened by the 60 plus girls in my program who do not have a place to learn the game of basketball, learn respect, sportsmanship, get physically fit, meet new friends and enjoy playing together as not only as a team but as a family.  I am sure many other youth groups who have relied on the “W” are feeling the same way as our girls are.  I take this closing a little more personally than most because of my own time I have spent donating to this facility.  I have countless hours into this facility fixing scoreboards for the price of parts ($8 if I recall correctly when some maintenance personnel had said it would cost thousands of dollars).  Being a Master plumber by trade I have also fixed many broken plumbing fixtures within the facility on my own time and at no cost to the “W”.  You do not have to tell this individual about costs, being a part of the business arena for many years I understand.     In end best wishes to everyone, and I hope this amazing facility does not go by the wayside and rot.   ~ Jarrod Keni, Program Director, Gwinn E-Girls Basketball

Thank You, Coach Hill for so eloquently saying your peace.  I second what you have to say.  I am PROUD of all that was able to be accomplished by our team in just over a year of my time spent there.  It was a GREAT privilege working with you!  Although, there were signs along the way, I cannot help but feel shocked that it came to this.   I am disappointed in the township for not rallying behind the building, it's staff and programs.  Timidity, nay-saying and second-guessing killed the greatest thing we had going.  If half as much effort had been poured into raising funds or making an annual commitment to donate money toward saving the 'W', as was put into whining about it.  If they had stood solidly behind the fundraising efforts that were being made, the picture may be different.   I too worry for the families- especially the children who NEED a safe place to go to have fun.  First there were complaints about the costs of keeping the facility open.  Now we may hear complaints about rising crime rates, teen pregnancies and health issues.   It's not about money, since none of us were making much to speak of.  It truly is a HUGE loss to our community... when cold weather hits and nobody has anywhere local to walk track, go swim, play basketball or sit in a hot sauna, they will understand how big a loss it really is.   I leave you all with best wishes and for the last time I will place my official signature at the bottom of my message.   ~ Paulena Woodruff, ASHF, MFP, MPT  Fitness & Wellness Director

I personally want to thank all of you for your guidance and support in the time I have been at the W.  I leave with great concern and prayer regarding the health, morale and welfare of the Sawyer community and the many senior citizens and disabled who thrive from the lifeline they have in using the W.  I am sad for the Teaching Family Home Youth, the physically and developmentally disabled adults and children who use the facility, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the school perks from Gwinn, Superior Central, Ishpeming, Negaunee and North Star and the Home School groups and the TMI students from Gwinn High School, Kids R' Us, Head Start and so many other including youth groups from the area and Perkins.   I am grateful that we were able to serve hundreds of youth from the Black Dragons Martial Arts, Articatz Volleyball, E-Girls Basketball, Marquette Magic, and the 60+ kids in the Summer Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (Jun-Aug each year), Cards for Troops,  and the Heritage Museum. I will miss the hundreds of families, over the two years I have been here, that come to the W as the only affordable and accessible outing they have, given their finance and transportation status, and watching those gruff looking dads frolic with their kids.   I will remember the senior citizens who came in with their short gaits, canes, and walking supports after surgery or from their debilitating joint problems -- who now walk unassisted or practically "run" like Barbara Robey  I will truly miss seeing the special kids who come here frequently like Raimond, Sheldon, Maura, Jasmine, Hope, China, Kayla, McKenzie, Mckayla, Alena, Lee and many others.  I guess the Cedarburg Wisconsin Football Team will need another fall destination after 10 years.   I have watched the positive growth of our staff and the increase of their positive customer service over two years.  Some spent many extra hours, without pay, insuring that the W was a welcoming and warm experience for our patrons and endured, likely, the lowest pay (without benefits) in the area of those who work similar positions.  Over the last few months they have suffered through being seen as "stupid" and have experienced significant disregard, disrespect, and condescending degrading treatment.  I pray they will all find gainful occupation to replace the passionate commitment they provided at the W.    We have had some incredible volunteers that have saved the W tons of dollars by repairing, improving, cleaning, and maintaining the facility.  The beautiful garden in the front of the facility is a product of a "Super Volunteer" and a marvelous staff member who came in her off time to work to get it where it is today.   I fear and mourn from  the thought of the deterioration (Physical and emotional) that will overtake some of the bodies of our senior citizens that bask in the warmth or the pool or limber up at Senior Strength and Stretch. I am prayerful that they won't isolate and drift into depression.  This group more than tripled since I arrived.   I fear the lack of a consistent healthy outlet for the youth of our community will result in unhealthy choices, wandering, vandalism, and violence not only from the kids but within and between families in housing.  I fear that the businesses located on Sawyer will exist among a literal ghost town with little life or movement.   I wonder where the massive sports tournaments will be held in South Marquette County to replace the Volleyball, Basketball, Martial Arts, and swim tournaments usually scheduled at the W.   Some are already advertised! Ladies Night Out, Youth Dances, Home School Recreation Days are all wiped out for now.  How sad!   The W has been a place visited when people are making a decision to live or place their business on Sawyer.  I fear without life being in this magnificent facility that life will leave it and it will crumble and fall.  The best pool in the U.P. will likely be filed with sand over time instead of 20 women exercising their bones, children screaming, and the Gwinn Swim team competing.   Life on Sawyer will not be the same again for people from a near as Sawyer and as far away as Gladstone, Rock, Perkins, Ishpeming,  and Trenary.  So much and so many people will be halted as a result of this decision. I myself will look for another venue for ministry to the Sawyer/Gwinn community.   Thank you again!   ~ Bill Hill

It is so difficult to see such a wonderful and needed place to be closed down. I want to thank everyone who came in the Sawyer Learning Center, used computers or read books or watched a movie or read a book to their kids. And thanks to everyone who signed a card for the troops or enjoyed reading a letter or a card from our brave men and women and looked at our Heroes Wall.   I feel a loss not only for my job and the average of 350 users a month for the Learning Center but also for my Cards for Troops project.  The amazing people who come through those doors and all the new friends we made while there will be missed. We just started at the “W” 19 months ago, when we lost our 12 year old granddaughter, I began walking the track to work through the loss. We knew nobody but close neighbors before that. Before long, Rick became friends with Bill and Barry, and began volunteering. Now we have friends who feel more like family and we will miss the close contact with them. We saw families enjoying time in the pool or playing basketball in the gym. We saw so many people helped through the physical activity and pool. Some of the older members were crippled until they used the pool, sauna or did exercise classes. It breaks my heart to see such a wonderful and needed place be closed down by others who don't care about anything but themselves. But we will survive and be better for having been a part of the "W".     ~ Sherry Nutt www.cardsfortroops.org.

West Branch Fitness & Community Center

301 Avenue A

Gwinn, MI 49841

Copyright @ 2008