Rosemary Williams

My husband and I live in White Plains. We were active, enthusiastic members of the White Plains Y because it was in our neighborhood and we could walk. Over the years, we embraced the community and were so happy in that home. Then it closed. It broke our hearts because it was a real connection to our neighbors and our neighborhood. We researched other fitness facilities and ended up following a large group of White Plains Y members to this facility. We practiced the drive at different hours of the day to make sure it could fit into our busy lifestyles with the commute. And early morning exercise classes were only 11 minutes away!

We happily found a new home here. In the Friday and Saturday morning yoga classes, I felt embraced by women with whom I immediately felt at home. I called my friends and myself White Plains refugees.

We stuck with the Y through the pandemic because I had such a great support network with Naomi and Shari in the Friday and Saturday morning Zoom classes. There were just a handful of us that stayed loyal on Zoom and we became a loving community. During the quarantine, we would all greet each other before class in the Zoom room and then we would quietly go to our yoga. For a long time, I came for the morning outdoor parking lot exercise classes with Diana and George. They were so diligent to keep us up at 6:45 in the morning until it got too cold.

We now rejoice to be back in person and make new acquaintances. We feel we’re back at home. Especially at the beautiful Y Studios. It’s glorious! However, school buses and landscape trucks have turned our 11-minute commute into 24 minutes. But we’ll stick it through. My husband is at the main facility every morning and I’m enjoying the fitness classes here at the Y Studios.

We love the staff and appreciate all the accommodations they made to keep this a vibrant exercise facility that was open and flexible through all the changes of quarantine. They really worked hard.