Robin Jovanovich

When my husband, our two kids, and I moved from Florida to Rye 30 years ago this fall, we knew we wanted to join some kind of fitness center. The Y was the obvious choice because half of the people we met belonged! It was like the church we joined; we met people we really liked, and it was a warm and inviting place from day one.

While we didn’t take advantage of all the Y has to offer, we got lucky because when my husband Peter started to get sick in 2001, I started looking at the trainers and thinking to myself ‘Which one would push my husband to keep exercising?’ I knew that just getting him up and out would be a big part of his recovery. He was weak; he was short on oxygen, and he just kept sinking. He needed a reason.

So, I pestered Mike Carrington. I called him at home. I ran into him on purpose when he has leaving the Y. Finally, he said kindly, ‘I can’t take it anymore. I don’t have any time, but if you can get your husband here at 7:30 in the morning, I’ll work with him.’ Mike was in the Army. He had played football. He was a wonderful athlete and he had this ‘you can do it!’ attitude.

Mike and the Y got Peter through a really, really challenging time. When Mike finally retired, Laura Laura was definitely our first choice, and we were lucky to get her on a regular basis. Laura is like Mike in a lot of ways. She’s not afraid. She has a sense of humor. And she senses what people need. She keeps calling when Peter hasn’t been in. Sometimes people just need a nudge.

Those two people really made a difference, as did the whole environment at the Y. My husband was working out one day and he had a heart attack. A member went over to him and said, ‘Are you okay? Why don’t you go sit down.’ And immediately there were two Y staff members there who quickly called 9-1-1.

I don’t want to paint a portrait of the Y as an emergency center, because it’s not, but it’s definitely a place where you feel good. And it’s not too loud, which I think is important when you’re exercising. The people here listen. It’s not like a big gym where there’s way too much activity all the time. And with the new design of space, it’s more than doubled what the Y can do. And it’s doing it.

The Y is also a place where people make connections. I know a lot of friendships have been made and revived here. It’s so nice when you walk in some place and actually know somebody. And while I don’t take advantage of your childcare, I know people who do, and you’ve certainly come to the rescue on a lot of different fronts.

And the Y has checked in on us when they haven’t seen us for a while. Once the Y reopened after the Covid shutdown, they were calling and checking and asking, ‘Is everything okay?’ It makes the relationship personal and enduring.

Over the years, I’ve developed very good relationships with Gregg, Denise, Lisa, Susan, and others. It’s just wonderful to have people at the front desk call you by your first name, especially in an age when everything’s a robot or an answering machine. I think that adds enormously to the opportunities and offerings here. A lot of people have invited me to take a class somewhere else, and I have done classes elsewhere, but I’m always happy to come back here.