The Mid-Willamette Family YMCA’s capital campaign got a big boost this week after the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation donated $40,000 toward constructing a new building at Timber-Linn Park.

“I am absolutely thrilled with Weyerhaeuser’s support,” said YMCA Executive Director Jim Asleson. “I couldn’t be happier they’ve joined our

effort to build a new YMCA.”

Asleson expects that Weyerhaeuser’s donation will become the catalyst needed to encourage other large businesses in Albany to donate to the fund.

Wayne Rieskamp, sales manager for Weyerhaeuser’s Washington and Oregon veneer plants, presented Asleson with the $40,000 check. Also on hand were Buzz Wheeler, chairman of the pacesetter portion of the fund-raising campaign, Pat Richards, chairman of the gift committee, and Gordy Gamet, president of the YMCA board.

Rieskamp said his company wanted to make the donation because “We strongly believe in the programs and services the YMCA provides local citizens. We look forward to the opening of the new Y and enjoying all it has to offer.”

The YMCA needs to raise $9.8 million to create a 45,000-square-foot facility at the north end of the park. So far with gifts, pledges and the eventual sale of the current facility at 3311 Pacific Blvd., Asleson said the total amount available is $6 million.

With the Weyerhaeuser Foundation donation, the Y capital campaign has raised nearly $3 million to date.

Asleson said the YMCA, which sits on about 11 acres, will sell for between $2 million and $3 million once the land is rezoned from light and heavy industrial to commercial. Several people have expressed interest in the location, although he declined to say who has contacted the agency about possibly buying the property.

The Albany Planning

Commission approved the rezoning last November. Now the petition goes before the City Council. Asleson wants to be finished with fundraising within 12 to 15 months. “I hope to break ground in 2007 and be open in 2008,” he said.

The agency is putting together a building committee comprised of an architect and contractor among others so when corporate YMCA officials give the design and the building’s components a go-head, “we’ll be ready to turn the dirt,” Asleson said.

Conceptually, the new facility would contain a lap swim and family fun pools, a gymnasium containing a full basketball court, a wellness center, multipurpose room, aerobics area, saunas, child-care area, and locker rooms.

The new YMCA would replace a building that was constructed 62 years ago for International Harvester. The Y has been at its location for 46 years.

Asleson believes that moving the YMCA to the north end of Timber-Linn Park is a good one.

Overflow parking is nearby at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center, the building is next to a lake, which makes the setting aesthetically pleasing, and it is near the edge of the park, leaving more land available for open space.

Jim Richards, owner of Fisher Implement, is the capital campaign chairman. He heads a six-member campaign cabinet.