The Goderich Huron YMCA has revised its membership fees to effectively allow users to pay for what they want to use.
General Manager, Travis Watson, said they've recently moved to a tier system for memberships. The goal is to make memberships more affordable without charging people for services they won't likely use.
“So we have our essentials tier, which is our base model, essentially," she said. "So that means access to drop-in programming and the wellness floor. And then we have our Y-Enhanced model, so the middle tier which includes ice use.”
Watson said the new membership schedule is the result of some research they did across the southwest region to determine what members were looking for, and what the community's looking for in a membership.
"If you're someone who just likes to work out here's a cheaper price point and if you're someone who likes to do everything or utilize the pool, that is the most expensive cost to us so that is the most expensive membership price,” he said.
Watson said they also have a middle option for someone who wants a little bit of group fitness and wants a little coaching. It also caters to each member of the family because in some cases, it's cheaper to have individual memberships than one membership for the whole family.
Watson adds because the facility is a charity, they do offer financial assistance and they'll never turn anyone away because of financial barriers. More information about the new membership schedule can be found on the Southwestern YMCA website.