By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
At 55 years old, Gary Lash suddenly found himself without a job.
That’s enough to bring a man to his knees. It brought down Lash even further.
“I was laying on the carpet telling God, “I’ve learned enough. I would like to have a job now”
17 years later, Lash — Executive Director of the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana — and his family will have their name on the new 42,000 square foot YMCA on Ellerbe Road, scheduled to open Saturday.
The Lash Family YMCA.
“It’s extremely humbling, and it’s hard for me to even say ‘The Lash Family YMCA‘, because putting my name on a building is not the motivation. I had some difficulty with that, but it’s all in the providence of God, and I’m going to go with it.”
Actually, if Lash had not gone with it, there may not be a third area YMCA, which includes the Downtown and BHP locations. An anonymous donor of whom 20 years ago Gary prayed would be successful in life both spiritually and financially, made his intentions clear.
“He said, ‘Lash, we need a Y down there. I will build it for you.’ I said, ‘We need to sit down and talk about how much it’s going to cost.’ He said, ‘It doesn’t matter. I will build it for you.’ I said, “Great! I will put your name on it.’ He said, ‘No, we’re putting your name on it.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s not what we do.’ He said, ‘Then I won’t give you any money.’ I said, ‘Wait, let’s talk about that.'”
Needless to say, the conversation was short, as was the donor’s reasoning for wanting to name the new Y in honor of the Lash family, which includes Gary’s wife Renee’ and two sons, Austin and Tyler.
“He told me because of our long-term involvement with the Y, going back to when our kids were in diapers. When Renee’ taught group exercise classes, that saved the Y. There were 2,000 women in those group exercise classes at the Broadmoor Y.”
Indeed, the Lash family and the Y go way back. When Lash finished college, he coached basketball at both Haughton High School and Parkway High School.
“During that time, I would get through with practice, go to the Downtown Y, and play basketball and lift weights…The kids grew up at the Y. They worked the summer camp (Camp Forbing). They were lifeguards.”
But times changed. In 2003, the Y, and Lash, needed saving. When Lash became CEO, the Y’s facilities (Downtown, Broadmoor, and Carver) were on life support.
“There was $600 in the Y’s account, and we owed $600,000.
Needless to say, Lash had some explaining to do to his better half.
“She was shocked when I took the job, because she knew the shape the Y was in, and knew what a mess it was. She said, ‘What are you doing?'”
But Renee’ never once tried to talk her husband out of taking the job.
“From Day One, I could not have done this without the support of my wife, and the knowledge she has of the Y, and allowing me the time to do it.”
The Y’s fortunes began to turn when a piece of land it owned just happened to be in the way of progress.
“The city was going to move the intersection at Forbing and Ellerbe Road, and they bought five acres from us. That helped pay the debt, and then we could begin to focus on building a new Y. The Broadmoor Y, with a 1966 business plan, just didn’t work anymore.”
That “focus” timed just right with the Haynesville Shale’s explosion in the late 2000’s. Heavyweights like BHP Billiton, an international natural resources company, found their way to northwest Louisiana.
“With the Haynesville Shale and the intervention of God, I started talking to BHP. They gave us almost $11 million — $8 million in cash and $2.7 million in property value — to build the BHP Y. That place blew the doors off, with a competition pool and everything.”
With the Broadmoor Y closed, Lash and others — in particular the aforementioned anonymous donor — saw the need for yet another facility.
“His motivation is that he knows by having this facility out here where there’s nothing south of here, no schools or parks, a lot of kids, people and families are going to hear about Christ by coming into this building and being in the programs. We pray before ball games. We pray before events.”
YMCA stands for Young Men’s Christian Association. It began in England in 1840 as a bible study with 12 men. The first Y in the United States was opened in 1850. The first Y in Shreveport was established in 1880.
“It’s a ministry. A lot of people don’t think of the Y as a non-profit, but we are. You have to run this like a business, but having the word ‘Christian’ in the name of the Y, nobody can come and challenge you and say, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t pray.’ It’s part of our mission to bring Christian principles into focus, and to treat all people equally and get everybody in here that we can and serve them.”
While it may seem like the Y’s re-birth has been a ‘right place, right time’ scenario, there’s more to the story. Growing up in Cotton Valley, Lash only knew — and still only knows — one way to do things.
“If we had a baseball field, we built it. The baseball field at first was our backyard. As the neighborhood kids grew, an over-the-fence ball was a home run. Then a couple of years later, an over-the-fence ball was an out. Then, we would go build a baseball field to play on. In a small town, there’s no money. Volunteers, Dad’s, and people built things. I grew up in that kind of culture . . . . You just worked and did things. We didn’t have a lot, but nobody ever told us, ‘You can’t do that.’ You just went down to the bottoms, got a load of sand, put it in the truck, and put it in the infield.”
Whether it be a baseball field or the Y organization, Lash ate by taking small bites.
“I was a student of history, and in fighting wars, winning the war is the end game. But you have to back up and say, ‘How do I fight this battle and win each step?’ You just go a step at a time. When I got into the Y and I saw what it was financially, I saw what could be done. My view was great. I thought everybody liked the Y. But nobody thought about the Y that much. I met some guys who were growth guys in the Y and they were successful. There was no reason why we couldn’t do it here. I just gritted my teeth and got after it.”
Today, the Y is thriving. Lash wouldn’t say how much is in the Y’s bank account, but suffice it to say there’s more than $600. Membership is thriving, with a brand new facility just days from opening. Even if all that was because of Lash, once a middle-aged man out of a job, he would never take the credit.
“I’m here in my opinion by the grace of God, and being used in a way to improve our community, give some quality of life to our families in town, and try and make this a better place.”
Contact Tony at SBJTonyT@gmail.com